While You Were Gone
by AuroraFireMadness
Summary: AU / Modern World "When you left five years ago all I wanted to do was just curl up in a ball and cry... I also wanted to drink myself into a stupor and forget you even existed. But my life changed that day you walked out my door, and it changed forever. Kya... she's my rock, she's my world. She's the reason I get up every morning. So don't you dare..." Zutara fanfiction
1. Chapter 1

A/N:

Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA (unfortunately)

CHAPTER ONE

It was barely morning and Katara got up to the sound of her daughter jumping up and down on her bed.

"Mummy, mummy, wake up!" Katara looked at the little black-haired girl jumping up and down on her bed with gusto. She turned to her alarm clock and sighed when she saw the time.

"Kya, it's six o'clock in the morning. What did mummy say about waking her up at an unreasonable time?" Kya smiled at her and finally stopped jumping; Katara was thankful for that because all that bouncing up and down made her nauseous.

"Swim practice, remember?!" Kya was so close to Katara that her fresh-mint breath tickled her ear.

"Can we not wait another hour?" Katara grumbled. Kya would have none of that and snatched her mother's bedding off of her.

"Mummy, get up no!" Kya demanded as she jumped off the bed. Before exiting the door, she paused and turned around. She ran back to her mother's bed, jumped on, and gave her a huge wet kiss on her cheek. Katara smiled and just as Kya was about to leave again, she grabbed her waist and held tightly on.

"You deserve the tickle-monster for waking me up at this time!" Katara lifted Kya's t-shirt and blew a raspberry on her belly. Kya giggled and pleaded her mother to not initiate the tickle-monster. Katara grinned at her daughter and looked straight into her eyes. Blue met golden and for a minute something clenched at Katara's heart; her daughter looked like her father so much that Katara sometimes found it hard to concentrate on what she was doing. The fleeting memory of looking into Zuko's eyes one last time went away and Katara pinned her daughter to the bed and tickled her mercilessly until Kya asked for forgiveness.

"Mummy, I'm sorry! I'll wake you up later next Saturday, I promise!" Katara, satisfied with Kya's tickled her one last time; Kya shrieked and giggled as she tried to slap her mother's hands away. Katara lifted Kya up from her bed placed her on the floor.

"Ok sweetie, go get dressed and mummy will be ready in a bit," Katara pushed Kya out her door and walked to her en-suite bathroom. As she showered, her thoughts turned to a pair of golden eyes and as much as she tried to forget the warmth that emanated once from those eyes, she couldn't. As the water cascaded down her body, she tried hard to fight back tears that were threatening to escape but soon she could taste the salty water running down her cheeks.

A pounding on the door brought Katara back to reality.

"Mummy! I'm ready!" Katara smiled and lathered off the rest of the soap off her body. She turned the shower knob which promptly stopped the flow of water from the shower head and stepped out of her bath tub. She wrapped a towel around her lithe body and opened to the door to find Kya smiling and her fist raised up as if she were about to knock on the door again.

"I'll be ready in just a minute," Katara rumpled Kya's hair, much to Kya's horror and went to her drawers.

"Mummy, you were meant to be ready ages ago! Look at the time!" Kya scolded her mother and pointed at the clock. Katara looked back and smiled at Kya.

"And what time is it exactly?" Kya looked at the clock and that at her mother.

"I don't know, but it's really late!" Katara smiled. At the age of five, Kya was struggling to learn how to put her newly-learned alphabet letters together to form words. Learning the time was on her agenda to learn once she started school.

"Make sure you dress warmly," Katara told Kya as she shimmied into her full-length swimsuit, "we still have a half-hour's drive in this cold winter to get to the heated swimming pool." Kya turned to leave and soon returned wearing her sweatpants and a jumper. Katara marveled at Kya's ability to take care of herself; at just five years old, Kya was able to dress alone, shower alone (although Katara never let her shower unsupervised) and pour her on cereal in the morning.

Katara and Kya arrived at the Olympic sized swimming pool. The security guard at the door gave Katara a nod of recognition and smiled at Kya as she swiped her mother's membership card. The two girls walked into the shower rooms and met with a girl who was busy putting on her swimming-cap. The girl looked up and saw Katara, her face lit up as she moved toward Katara to hug her.

"Katara! Hey! How are you?" Katara hugged the girl back and smiled.

"I'm good. I've brought Kya for her weekly swimming lesson." Katara pulled Kya close to her side while Kya looked up at the girl and beamed with happeness.

"You're Orlenka Kanchinova." She stated. The girl smiled.

"I am indeed Orlenka Kanchinova, how do you know me?" The girl looked down at her and smiled. Kya blushed.

"Mummy has a photo of you after your first win! She told me you were one of the best divers". Katara smiled at Orlenka.

"I told her all about our little team." Orlenka looked at Kya again.

"Well, did she also tell you how she was one of the best divers on the team? She always won first place. She was also always first in the butterfly sprint." Kya turned her eyes from Orlenka to Katara.

"Mummy, you never told me you came first! Can I be as good as you one day?" Katara affectionately squeezed Kya's shoulder.

"If we never get to the swimming pool, you'll never learn how to swim without the floating board." She teased. Katara looked to Orlenka, "Orly, I'll give you a call sometime, we should meet up!" Orlenka smiled,

"I'll tell the rest of the group to come as well." Katara led Kya in front of a locker that said COACH. She started to undress and Kya followed suit. As they made their way to the swimming pool Kya took Katara's hand.

"Mummy, will you show me one of your dives?" Katara looked at Kya and sighed. She couldn't say no to her standing in her frilly pale green swimsuit and those large innocent eyes.

"Ok, but then we practice. Mummy has to go to work." Kya nodded and watched as her mother headed toward the diving board ladder.

Although Katara hadn't been a professional diver in six years, she had practiced her routine every day as if she never had stopped being a professional diver/swimmer instead of a coach. She breathed in and climbed the familiar ladder rungs to the highest board. She went to peer over the edge and smiled when she saw Kya sitting at the bleachers. Kya waved madly at her while Katara gave her a thumbs up; during their swimming lessons when either party was at opposite ends of the pool, a thumbs up meant that everything was ok. This way there was no need to unnecessary shouting across the Olympic sized pool. Katara sent back a two thumbs-up and went back to the other side of the board, the familiar feel of the material under her bringing back nostalgic memories.

As Katara plunged into the pool from the highest board she reveled in the exhilarating feel every time she made a jump. Her hair was kept under a blue swimming cap, and her arms poised in front of her to make a clean dive. As she dove under water she bent her body to a clean break through the surface. She looked over to Kya and saw that her daughter was jumping up and down in her seat clapping her small hands and laughing. Katara lifted herself out of the pool and walked toward her daughter.

"Mummy you were amazing!" Kya got up to hug her mother around the waist, but because she was so short compared to Katara's tall frame, she was hugging Katara's thigh.

"Can I learn to do that?" Katara looked at the admiration in the little girl's eyes and smiled.

She crouched down to her daughter's eye level, took her small hands into her larger ones and said, "If by the end of this year you learn how to swim a bit more confidently, and after I teach you some breathing exercises, on your birthday I'll take you to the beginner's diving board and you can try and see if diving is for you. Kya nodded passionately and followed Katara into the pool for her lessons. Katara had never seem her more determined to be absolutely confident in the water.

"How about we make some brunch and watch a film while eating?" Katara turned to the small passenger sitting in the child seat diagonally behind her and smiled. Kya had worked so hard for two hours that she fell asleep in her safety seat. Katara was droving across the bridge when her eye caught an advertisement that nearly prompted her to slam onto her breaks which would have surely created an accident with the car behind her. She made a mental note to research this particular advertisement on the computer once she went home.

As she pulled into her drive-way Katara noticed the dark clouds looming overhead. She wrapped her coat tightly around her body and rushed outside the car to open Kya's side of the door. The biting wind nipped at her exposed ears and her long hair was flying backwards as the wind tried to push her in the opposite directions. She quickly opened Kya's door and scooped up the sleeping child into her hands. She fumbled for her keys as she staggered up the steps due to the added weight. When she finally closed the door behind her Kya stirred in her arms. She opened her eyes groggily and looked up to her mother,

"Are we home?" Katara smiled at the yawning child.

"Yes baby, we are. Do you want to sleep for a bit and I'll wake you in two hours for lunch?" Kya stretched her arms and smiled as Katara poked her in her belly. She laughed.

"Can we have brunch? And then we can watch Little Mermaid!" Katara rolled her eyes. She wished she had never bought the DVD version of the Little Mermaid for Kya's third birthday because they had spent every subsequent Saturday and Sunday watching it on repeat.

"Sure honey! What do you want?" She didn't protest the film as she would always do when Kya proposed to watch it. After all, Katara would not be watching the Little Mermaid. She had her own agenda – she had to research that advertisement that nearly caused an accident on the bridge.

"Oooo, I want pancakes and fruit and maple syrop and bacon and eggs and…" Kya stopped to breathe in and continued listing all the foods she wanted for brunch. Katara shook her head. Her daughter's appetite was always abnormally huge after their practice so she went to the kitchen to prepare their weekly brunch. Meanwhile Kya sat at the dining table in the kitchen and coloured in her colour-book version of the Lion King.

After Katara had put away the clean dishes from brunch she went over to her computer. Making sure that her daughter was too busy watching the Little Mermaid and singing with Ariel, she opened up the internet browser. She closed the tab of the chat-room she had opened. Someone called IGGYPOP958 was asking her on a date. She had ignored his request, which was all the pity since they were having a lively discussion on world politics. He seemed to know his stuff but then she deemed him as just another guy who thought with his male parts rather than his head and ruined a perfectly good debate on the Medical Care Referendum by asking her out. She opened up a new tab and typed in a search engine.

SENATOR OZAI

Her search generated multiple pages all pertaining to a Senator Ozai. She opened the most recent article written on him which just happened to be today.

Ex-Senator Ozai, who held the position of Senator for three consecutive terms, visits &county today with his two children Azula and Zuko. The ex-senator made a statement yesterday that his son, Zuko, is in fact running for Senator of &county. Exit polls show that Zuko is a popular candidate for the position of Senator.

Having studied at one of the most prestigious universities in the Country and graduating summa cum laude, people are hoping that Zuko continues the tradition of upholding the democratic values of this Country. Critics say that his influence from his father, who was the reason for getting rid of welfare benefits and privatising almost all national welfare institution when he held the position of Senator, is too much and that his candidacy might mean the end for &county.

Many at the scene were hopeful. Zuko, having studied political sciences and being an active citizen of &county is said to be different from his father and that he is just what this Country needs. Photographed (down) with his lovely fiancé, Mai -, Zuko looks like he is ready to face the opposition by any mans possible. Zuko is expected to visit all burroughs of &county hoping to get more voters.

What do you think of Zuko running for Senator of &county? Write down your comments below!

Katara scrolled down to the picture of Zuko and Mai. Her breath caught in her throat. He was more handsome than ever, dressed in a black suit with a red tie. Mai next to him to waving to crowd while her other hand clutched Zuko's arm. She was the epitome of beauty; her long ebony-black hair was styled with grace and a red dress was wrapped around her tall, thin frame. The dress showed off her willowy figure and a daring mid-thigh split showed off her long, toned legs. She would do well for a Senator's wife. Katara clicked the X on the tab and promptly shut off her computer. She got out of her seat and joined her daughter on the couch just as Prince Eric speared Ursula with his ship. Katara frowned.

"Are you sure you should be watching this?"

"Mummy, I've been watching this since I was three. I'm not scared" Kya didn't look away from the screen. Katara sighed and draped her hand over her daughter's shoulder pulling her closer. Kya snuggled closer to her mother.

"Are you doing to work today?" Kya asked.

"Nope. I'm free all day. What do you want to do?" Kya didn't take her eyes off the television.

"Can we continue my reading lessons?" Katara smiled at her daughter's need to learn more.

"Sure! And then tomorrow we're going to Uncle Sokka's house." Kya clapped her hands at the thought of going to her Uncle's house.

"Yey! And we get to see auntie Sukki with her huge belly!" Katara laughed.

"Her huge belly is holding your future cousin." Kya looked up at Katara as the credits rolled.

"But I already have 4 cousins from Uncle Sokka and Auntie Sukki. I also have 2 cousins from Uncle Aang and Auntie Toph. I don't need any more." Katara laughed.

"Well Auntie Toph and Uncle Aang will also be there with your two cousins and I don't want you telling them any more ghost stories." Kya pouted.

"But they like it! Plus, cousin Kenzo is three years older than me. He shouldn't be getting scared of my stories.

"Uncle Sokka told me Kenzo wouldn't sleep for three weeks after you told them the story of the lone security guard who heard footsteps in the middle of the night." Katara turned to look at her daughter, "Who tells you these stories anyway?" Kya smiled,

"Bosco, the security guard at the swimming pool. When you go to work and take me with you because Sophia can't take care of me, Bosco tells me all these stories. I was scared at first, but now I'm ok." Katara made a mental note to tell of Bosco at Ba Sing Se Swimming Centre.

"Bosco looks like a bear so it's ok, he can't make anything sound scary." Katara laughed at Kya's observation.

"A bear?" She asked.

"Mhm. He's so big and hairy." Katara thought of the security guard and he was indeed very tall, standing at 6"4, sturdy build and really hairy. As an ex body-builder his bulging muscles made him seem bigger than he really was and, thankfully, after he stopped being vain, he stopped shaving his body thus letting his natural hairy-ness take over his body.

That night, as Katara switched on her daughter's sleeping lamp thus illuminating her peacefully sleeping figure, she thought of Zuko and the article once more. He was going to visit all the burroughs for his campaign which meant that in a few weeks she could be running into him and Mai. She tiptoed to her room and closed the door softly. Perhaps she would take Kya and go on holiday. But what about work? Each burrough visit would surely last at least one month, maybe two since he had six months until the elections and three burroughs to visit. Two months would be too much to take off work and her athletes needed her. She had found a good job coaching top-notch athletes in her area. As her head hit her pillow, she decided that she would wait and see what she would do. Rash decisions led to nowhere… and who knows, maybe she would never run into him! After all, she was always at work and while politics was her passion, she never had time to go to live political debates – she always saw them televised after.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N:

Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA (unfortunately)

CHAPTER TWO

Katara woke up to the sun shining through her curtains. She closed her eyes and smiled as the sun's rays lovingly caressed her face. A few minutes later she decided that she was done being lazy and groaned as she go up from bed. She walked to her daughter's room and opened the door just enough to take a peek. The girl looked even smaller in her big bed and stuffed animals surrounding her. Kya was lying on her back, soldier style, with her blanket still tucked neatly around her – her mother remembered doing that the night before. Katara opened the door a bit more and snuck into the room. Her daughter slept exactly like her father – the two were so scary alike in their mannerisms that Katara thought she would never escape thoughts of Zuko as long as her daughter was around; and since she planned on keeping her daughter around as long as forever allowed her, she would have to live with the fact that she would never escape Zuko.

As she inched closer to her daughter's bed she noticed that, while Kya had Zuko's eyes, his mannerisms and unruly hair, the rest of her looked like her mother. Kya's golden eyes were accentuated by her dark skin, a trait inherited from her mother's tribe. Her nose and mouth were exactly like Katara's. If anyone knew that Katara and Zuko had a baby, Kya was the perfect candidate as she looked like the perfect mix of both of them.

Katara crept to Kya's and bed and slowly shook her away. Kya groggily opened her eyes.

"Is it morning again?" Katara stifled a laugh. Kya was only wide awake on Saturdays when Katara would take her for swim practice. The rest of the days she would stay awake with the moon and sleep with the sun – something that Katara did as well.

"We have to get ready, we're going to Uncle Sokka's, remember?" Kya yawned and stretched her small arms up to the ceiling.

"Ok mummy. Can you help me brush my teeth?" Katara nodded; although Kya knew how to brush her teeth, she had some difficulty squeezing the toothpaste out of the tube.

After she was done brushing her teeth Katara took her back to her room.

"Now remember, even though the sun is shining, it's still cold so dress warmly." Kya nodded as she opened her mini closet. Katara had installed the mini closet so Kya could see her clothes more easily.

Three hours later they were crossing the bridge to another borough. Sokka and Suki had bought a house close to Toph and Aang while Katara decided to go to the borough closest to the sea. Her family lived in the richest borough of &county. Toph had inherited lots of money from her family, so it was only natural that she would inherit one of the biggest estates in the borough. Sokka was a high ranking general in the military and had to be close to his work so it was also natural for him and Suki to live there. Their house, though not as grand as Toph and Aang's, was quite big to accommodate the ever-growing family Sokka and Suki had. Katara's countless nieces and nephews each had their own room. Suki worked as a personal trainer, one of the best in the Country, and had many wealthy clients who were willing to pay an arm and a leg for the body she had. Suki was her own advertisement; with a slim, strong body, she attracted many female, and much to Sokka's dismay, male clients who were working toward a healthier physique. Only her family and friends knew of her dangerous skill with any weapon placed in her hands. This skill was also shown to anyone who ever double-crossed her and/or tried anything funny with her. Katara had opted for a small, yet comfortable beach house close to the bridge that connected her to the final borough of &county. She tried not to go there much as the borough was the poorest of the three, run through with corruption; the rich exploited the poor and while the rich got richer, the poor got poorer. She only crossed the bridge to go to the pool and work. She once lived in that borough when Kya was born; Sokka was posted over seas and she was too proud to ask Toph and Aang for help. Katara shuddered as she tried to blank out the first year she had spent with Kya in neighbourhoods she never wanted to visit again.

Katara dressed in jeans a woolen jumper. She tied a blue scarf around her neck and shimmied into a white trench coat. She looked in the mirror and stared at her reflection. She would never be as slim as Mai – her body was too toned from all the diving exercises and time spent at the gym. She also had a more voluptuous figure than Mai, with curves in all the, hopefully, right places. Her hair was wavy, not curly like her Zuko and Kya's, and not dead straight like Mai, it was somewhere in the middle. She never had time to go to a stylist so she cut the split ends off at home and usually tied in a knot behind her head with two strands of hair that never seemed to make it into the knot, framing her face. Her eyes, her favourite feature, were striking against her dark complexion. She was naturally dark but the summers she spent by the beach made her more tanned than she would prefer. She would never have the pale, lady-like complexion than most girls of high ranking families had.

Katara smoothed out any creases on her trench coat and went to find Kya who was waiting patiently in the living room with her little rucksack already placed on her shoulders. She was attempting to read a book that was a bit too advanced for her; that was Kya though, always pushing to be better than what she was before. Katara sometimes worried about her daughter's attitude toward the other children. Due to her advanced level, Kya would sometimes act superior to her classmates in the first grade. She would argue with the teacher that since she was already further advanced than the other children, she could do her own thing. Katara was called into the classroom a few times for the teacher to tell her that despite Kya's high level of academia, she had to make sure she wasn't too haughty or too proud as this could become quite a hindrance in the future. Katara had always wanted to argue back with the teacher but she thought about how much Kya's personality matched her father's. Katara knew how being proud could become a problem so she had many discussions with Kya about learning how to be more humble. Hopefully, one day, Kya would leave her pride behind and become the girl Katara knew she could be.

The drive across the bridge was long; the rich didn't want many foreigners coming into their borough, so they made the bridge as long as possible with a toll that was criminally high. At least there weren't that many cars, Katara thought as her bright blue Honda whizzed past the sleek black Mercedes' on the other lane. When they finally got off the bridge Kya looked out in awe. The borough was surrounded by a river and the only way to get off it was by four bridges; one bridge connected them to the borough where their home resided while the other three bridges connected the boroughs to various land-locked states. This borough was perhaps the richest one in all the Country; the estates were bigger than her school back home, the grass always freshly cut with neatly planted flowerbeds. All estates had at least three guards, two at the entrance and one at the end. The fences guarding each estate were so tall that Kya had to press her nose against the window and crane her neck upwards to see the pointy tops.

"Mummy, when I get older and marry someone rich, I'm going to live here and bring you with me." Katara looked at Kya through her mirror, not wanting to take her eyes off the road for long.

"Mhm, and which will be our house?" Katara asked teasingly. Kya pointed at a random house which was bigger than the rest and had more than two guards guarding the front entrance.

"That one!" She pointed and giggled. Katara laughed. The house belonged to the now-Senator Orion who was notoriously known for the exploitation of the other two boroughs. At the thought of Senator her stomach clenched. Zuko… Katara imagined his estate, not far from here, bigger than Senator Orion's with its never-ending corridors, countless staircases, two Olympic sized swimming pools, a tennis court and vast gardens. Of course, if Senator Orion was guilty for exploiting the outer boroughs, Ozai was worse. He made his money off the fearful and disadvantaged citizens of &county. Katara shook her head to block out anything to do with that family. She was on the way to see her friends and family and she didn't want anything to spoil the day.

As they moved away from the estates - it took them a little longer because Kya wanted to see Toph and Aang's estate so Katara drove her around the neighbourghood – the houses became smaller, well smaller than the grand estates they had passed but bigger than her own beach house across the bridge. Kya jumped up and down in her seat in anticipation of seeing her large family once more. As they pulled up to Sokka's drive way they saw Aang's beaten up Volkswagen and Sokka's SUV already parked in front of them. Katara halted to a stop and unbuckled her seatbelt. Kya was already out of the car before Katara.

"How did you get out of your seat?" Katara asked, shocked.

"Mum, it doesn't take much to figure out what buttons to press," Kya's haughty expression and sarcastic demeanour reminded her of Zuko when she first met him, "Come on, hurry up!" Kya pleaded, pulling her mother towards the car's boot. Katara turned to her daughter.

"I'm going as fast as I can. Have you got your rucksack?" Kya nodded and turned to show her rucksack already placed on her back.

"Come on!" She pleaded again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" Katara laughed as she unloaded the various foods she had cooked the night before. She was always wary of Sokka and Suki's cooking – Sokka knew how to barbeque well enough but anything else and they both burnt to cinders. She unloaded mashed potatoes, barbeque sauce (which she made from scratch), a refreshing salad and a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. She handed the tupperwear with the sauce to Kya,

"Here, help mummy out and hold this." Kya dutifully held the tupperwear and walked up to the front door. Since Kya was too short to ring the bell, her mother struggled a bit with the tray of food and managed to push the button with her pinky.

Suki opened the door with a smile and quickly enveloped Kya into a hearty hug.

"Welcome! Welcome! We were wondering when you guys would get here!" Suki let Kya go and alleviated some of Katara's burden.

"Thanks Suki" Katara sighed with relief. Suki leant over and kissed Katara on both cheeks.

"No problem. Welcome sister." At seven months pregnant Suki was just starting to show signs of being pregnant. Katara remembered when she was pregnant with Kya; she grew to be the size of a house. Suki's belly only looked big because it was so disproportionate with the rest of her small body. "You'd better come in, your brother is trying to light the barbeque and I told him that there wasn't enough fuel and he wouldn't listen to me." Katara laughed. Her brother was always trying to prove his worth to Suki even though he knew he was hers – mind, body and soul. Katara longed for a relationship like the one her brother had with Suki but she wouldn't get anywhere is she continued to turn down everyone who asked her out.

Katara followed Suki into the kitchen and set the food down on the counter.

"Go ahead. I'll just go out and see what Sokka's done with the barbe…" She trailed off as she set her eyes on the corner of the kitchen. Katara turned around; there was nothing. "Why that little…" Suki clenched both hands into a fist. "SOKKA!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and stomped out of the kitchen and into the garden. Katara walked toward the living room leaving her brother to his fate. She passed the playroom and saw Kya playing with her cousins. She smiled and made her way to the living room. Before she even saw Toph and Aang she felt someone hug her from behind.

"Sugar queen!" Katara smiled and turned around to hug Toph. Of course she knew she was coming, the blind girl was able to see with her ears and feet. Toph always hated wearing shoes so she had custom made ballet flats with ultra-thin soles that let her feel the ground she walked on. "Twinkle toes! Sugar queen is here" Toph yelled behind her. Aang left the book he was perusing on Sokka's shelf and captured Katara into a hug. She smiled. This was the thing to get her mind off Zuko.

"How was the trip?" Aang asked. Katara laughed. Aang was always asking after the wellbeing of his friends.

"It was fine. Kya loves the huge houses around here. She wants to marry rich." Toph laughed while Aang grinned.

"She's learning from a really young age, isn't she?" Aang noted. Katara nodded. They all headed towards the couched; Aang and Toph sat on a love seat while Katara sat in her favourite barcalounger. They chatted for a bit until Suki came in bringing a gust of wind with her from outside.

"Sokka says the food is nearly ready" She jumped from foot to foot trying to warm up. Toph looked up in her direction and grinned.

"I'm guessing Sokka had an earful…right?" Toph was annoyingly intuitive due to her blindness. She was great at being sensitive to other people's feelings… well, sometimes. Other times she would blurt out what the other person was feeling before they had said anything. Katara laughed inwardly as she remembered the huge argument Toph and Aang had when they first started going out; while on a romantic date, Aang was trying to tell her he loved her but she saw how nervous he was and instead said "Aww, it's ok, I love you too". They nearly broke up over the word "too" because Aang wanted to say it and not being told it. However, as Toph put it, he loved her so much that he had to accept the good, the bad and the ugly, and this was one of the uglys. Katara also remembered how Toph always knew what she was feeling and she was one of the first people to find out, or rather, to figure out that she had broken up with Zuko. Toph was great at being the arbitrator between Katara and Sokka when the former told the latter about her pregnancy. Sokka was furious and was about to march up to Zuko's house and demand he marry Katara. Thankfully, Toph, a black belt in almost all forms of martial arts, got to him before he could do anything to Zuko. Although, Katara thought that it was perhaps in Sokka's best interests that Toph stopped him because Zuko was also a master in all forms of martial arts as well as skilled with weapons; although, his martial arts weren't quite as refined as Toph's nor was his ability to master all kinds of weaponry a natural instinct like Suki's.

Katara noticed Toph looking at her with a funny expression on her face, but she didn't say anything. The door slamming brought her attention to her brother who was dressed in a thick, wooly parka. The winters in the Country could be vicious and if one didn't dress accordingly, they would die of hypothermia. Sokka soon had his sister locked in one of his bear hugs; Katara could feel the cold wind on his parka and let out a little shiver. Sokka noticed her shudder and pulled back,

"Sorry, it's really cold out there." He took off his parka and put it on the chair not noticing Suki's disapproving look in her eyes and pursed lips. "Where's my niece?!" Just as he finished his question Kya came running into the living room, her cousins shuffling behind her.

"UNCLE SOKKA!" Kya jumped into his arms and hugged his neck.

"Easy there tiger, I like breathing"

"How come mini princess is always so happy to see you and not us?" Kya and Sokka shared a grin.

"I'm happy to see all of you!" She said diplomatically, "Didn't I hug all of you when I came? I love you all the same except for mummy. I love her the most". Kya didn't mention that whenever she and Sokka would meet up in the summer he would take her with his sons and her cousins and show them how to use a boomerang. He would also listen to her ghost stories and gasp in all the right places while other adults disapproved. Since Kya was the only female child, everyone was over protective of her but Sokka who would treat her just like the guys and she liked how he didn't differentiate based on the fact that she was a girl.

Sokka let Kya down gently and turned to the group, "Come on let's eat. I'm hungry." The group of friends laughed as he led them to the dining room. Katara was about to follow them until Toph pulled her back. Making sure that everyone was in the living room, Toph turned to Katara with a sad smile on her face.

"Why are you thinking of that jerk?"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N:

Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA (unfortunately)

CHAPTER THREE

Katara rolled her eyes – trust Toph to know who she was thinking about.

"Come on, spit it out Princess, I need to know why you're thinking of that jerk!" Toph folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.

"How do you know?" Katara asked. Maybe if she bought some time, she wouldn't have to tell Toph about her fears of running into Zuko and Mai.

"Your heart always beat like this when you were around or when you were thinking of him. Why do you think I was the first person, literally the first person, to find out that both of you liked each other? Neither you, nor him knew it at that time…!" Katara grinned. Toph's ability to sense all these emotions was what made her an ideal child psychologist. She could be compassionate with those who needed it and very stern with those who tried to lie to her. As the benefactor to a youth centre, Toph didn't exchange her services for money so she believed that because she wasn't getting paid, and was in fact subsidising this youth centre, she could treat the children like her own. All of them loved her, and since they came from broken families, they found solace and comfort in Toph's surrogate family. Every holiday Toph's house would be full of children running around and homeless people being given a second chance – she would try and find jobs for them in her various companies. But corruption made the homeless and the jobless more. Toph was running out of space in her companies and positions to give away. Katara knew that she was starting to get angry with the government for allowing this to happen but unfortunately, since she had never expressed and interest in politics and the politicians always seemed to screw the people over, she had lost faith in a system that was put in place to protect the people of &county. All she could do was make sure that the people were as comfortable as they could be out on the streets. "Spit it out sugar queen, I haven't got all day. What are you thinking about now… it's not that jerk, I know."

Katara grinned, "I was thinking of your perceptiveness Toph." Toph smiled at her.

"That doesn't get you off the hook!" Their attention turned to the dining room where they heard a plate shatter.

"I'm so sorry!" They could hear Aang apologizing and Katara faintly heard the kitchen door opening and closing; it was probably Suki or Sokka with a broom.

"Here you go!" Ah, Sokka was the one who had brought the broom. Katara heard a yelp. "What was that for?" and her brother's high pitched voice used only when his wife reprimanded him for something.

"You clean it up" Katara heard Suki say and Sokka grumble. Aang was protesting and asking for the broom to clean up, "No Aang, you're a guest….See, Sokka did a great job… hang on, you missed a piece sweetie" Another grumble from Sokka was heard and then the clinking of broken china shard was heard. Toph looked at Katara again.

"You saw the advertisement." Katara nodded, keeping her head low. Toph went closer to her friend and put a hand around her shoulder steering her toward the dining room door. "While he's visiting your borough, do you want to come and stay with me? I can make it like a holiday." Katara smiled,

"You would do that for me?" She sighed with relief. Perhaps she wouldn't ever run into him now if they weren't even in the same borough.

"Sugar Queen, you were like a mother to me in school, and now you're like the sister I never wanted but am stuck with. This is what family does!"

"And you won't tell Sokka and the others?" Toph frowned.

"Well, I don't keep secrets from Aang, you know that. And I will have to explain why you and the little rugrat are coming to stay with us for two months." Katara nodded,

"Fine, you can tell him." Toph grabbed her shoulders and pushed her through the door. Everyone was already sitting around the dinner table and looked up as one, when the door opened.

"Where were you?! I'm hungry!" Sokka complained. Katara rolled her eyes, her brother was always hungry. Toph went to sit in the seat close to Aang while Katara took an empty seat between Sokka's two younger sons – they were twins and Katara was always upset when she talked to them because she could never tell them apart.

"Hi Sasuke, hi Syao… how are you?" The twins on either side of her looked bored. One of them replied,

"I'm Syao and he's Sasuke." Kya, who was sitting opposite Katara giggled.

"Can't you tell them apart mummy? One twin has…" Before she could finish her sentence the twins leapt across the table to cover her mouth.

"Don't betray our secrets!" Syao said… no wait that was Sasuke… no, Syao… Katara shook her head clearly confused with the events that had just transpired. She turned to Kenzo who was sitting next to Kya.

"So Kenzo, what have you been up to?" The eldest of all the cousins, Kenzo was only eight years old. Katara looked at the twins and Kenzo; their mother was a former soldier who fought with Sokka in the hundred year war overseas and she died a tragic death after being captured by the other side. She had left behind four children, Kenzo, Ikem, Sasuke and Syao. Their father had already died before Sasuke and Syao had even been born. It took a while for the two older brothers to get used to Sokka and Suki has their new family; Kenzo was always quiet and stayed mostly in his room while Ikem was constantly suspicious of all those around him. Sokka had found out about the children after Meriam had died; he had found Sasuke and Syao, barely aged one, and took them in after talking it over with Suki. The twins had no adjustment period to get used to calling them mum and dad because they were all the twins knew. Kenzo and Ikem were in an orphanage in the lower borough for a whole year before Sokka could find them – Katara shuddered to think what those kids had seen in the outer borough and what they must have felt. Sokka and Suki had tried their hardest to make sure nothing ever bothered them again and that they could become surrogate parents worthy of Meriam and her husband.

Kya was chatting to Kenzo about starting school again in January and he was just nodding. She was like that, able to talk to anyone and everyone without making it awkward. Sokka was sitting on Kya's other side and next to Suki. Every time Suki would rub her belly he would look at her with a concerned look. Katara thought of her own pregnancy and how she had to do everything on her own. Even her cravings at two in the morning – she would go down to the kiosk and run up a bill that left the manager shocked (he didn't know how she was going to combine prune juice, dried apricots, yoghurt and ham, and he didn't even want to think about it).

"Auntie Katara, will you teach us how to dive?" Katara looked at Sasuke who was talking to Kya. Sokka and Toph looked at Katara expectantly.

"Mummy, I told them how you dove so beautifully yesterday!" Toph raised an eyebrow.

"You dove…in front of your daughter?" Katara stuck her tongue out at Toph. "I can hear you do that you know" Toph laughed.

"Of course I'll teach you all how to dive and swim. It's my job as the only Auntie who's not scared of water." Suki and Toph shuddered at the thought of water; Suki was always scared for her husband when he went out one of the Navy Ships – even as a high ranking General, he had to go at least twice a month on a Navy Ship. Sokka never told Suki, but he was always happy to go do his duty – his home was the sea, just like Katara's.

The day passed uneventfully. They had eaten, and Sokka ate all the leftovers as snacks during the day and talked. Kenzo even joined Syao and Kya into a heated debate about which anime was better. Katara sighed, she would have to limit her daughter's TV privileges. She sat down next to Aang.

"Hey" He smiled. Katara smiled back. The group didn't like to talk about it but at one point in school, Aang had preferred Katara over Toph. Toph, being the good sport that she was, never held it against it her best friend. In fact, it only furthered her to strengthen the friendship and her relationship with Aang.

"Hey back" She nudged his shoulder with hers. "How's it going?"

"It's going well. There's a lot of work. Toph thankfully spends most of the day in the outer borough with the Youth centre so I don't have to worry about her being alone."

"Don't you worry about her being in the outer borough?"

"She's a BeiFong, she has two body guards with her at all times." Katara nodded, "Anyway, I'm still commanding all the elements." Katara laughed. Aang was a meteorologist who was in charge of checking sea temperature and rising sea levels; hurricanes and wind change; droughts that could start fires in various dry regions; and predicting natural disasters like earthquakes. He always joked that he was the one chosen to command these elements from his station. "I'm also working with the Animal Shelter and WWF to help protect animals in the Country and endangered species around the world." Katara and Aang exchanged more events from their lives. Katara explained to him about her new athlete who was just sixteen years old but was the best swimmer she had ever coached.

The ride back was exhausting. Suki had insisted they all stay for dinner too and Katara felt stuffed. Kya was thumbing through a book Kenzo had given her which had loads of pictures. Katara smiled at her in the rear-view mirror and Kya replied with a toothy grin.

"Did you have fun?" Her eyes shifted from the rear-view mirror to the road as she spoke to Kya.

"I love going to their house! It's always so full!" Kya nodded enthusiastically. Mother and daughter were silent for a bit until Kya looked at her mother expectantly, "Mummy, where's daddy?" Katara's eyes froze on the road – she didn't want to look into the rear-view mirror and see her daughter's eyes brimming with innocence… or maybe she was too selfish because every time she saw her daughter's eyes, she saw Zuko's and she was too selfish to say anything about him to Kya. Her daughter had asked about her father quite a few times but Katara always evaded the question.

"Why do you bring him up?" Katara tore her eyes from the road and looked at her daughter's reflection. She was right… she was too selfish to talk about Zuko. Zuko didn't deserve to be remembered by Kya – the man he was instead of the man he could be. Katara gripped the steering wheel and focused on the road once more. This time, when she spoke, she didn't shift her attention off the road even once.

"I'll make you a promise. On your fifteenth birthday I'll tell you everything about your father, I promise." Kya thought about it for a bit.

"Ok." Just one word was enough to set Katara blinking away tears. She awaited her daughters fifteenth birthday with dread. She would have to explain to her daughter how the one man she had always wanted to meet was the man who betrayed her mother. Katara sighed and gripped the steering wheel with a little more force than was meant to.

Finally arriving home Katara dragged a sleeping Kya to her room. Kya was muttering things like,

"More food Uncle Sokka"

"The salad's great mum"

"Auntie Suki, is it a boy or a girl?"

Katara laughed. Her daughter was muttering things she had said throughout the day like a muffled CD player on repeat. As she picked up Kya to take her up the stairs she froze,

"Sasuke, my daddy is real and I'm going to meet him one day!" Katara's foot had frozen mid-step – when did Kya and Sasuke have this conversation? Kya stirred in her mother's arms which prompted Katara to huff and puff the rest of the way. Kya was getting a bit too heavy to carry up so many steps but it would be criminal to wake her up after such a lovely day.

She made sure Kya was tucked in properly before kissing her forehead and closing the overhead light.

"Goodnight sweetie." Katara turned on her night-lamp.

"Night mummy. I love you." Kya replied in a sleepy trance. Katara closed the door softly and tiptoes to her room – the creaky floorboards always scared Kya at night.

In her room Katara immediately went to her book case. Seeing her friends all paired up made her remember what she had forgotten; human contact. After five years of not being in a relationship she was in some serious need of human contact – the type of contact that her friends would not be able to help with. She laughed; it wasn't as if guys had just stopped looking at her. The voice of vanity in her head reminded her of the fact that since splitting from Zuko people still flirted with her, so they must have found her attractive to a certain degree. But unfortunately, at the mention of her 5 year old daughter, most guys stopped returning her calls. She stopped bother to care three years ago. Raising her daughter was the most important aspect of her life right now and no one could get in the way. She picked a book from her bookshelf – the secret stash of books only Toph and Suki knew of. If Sokka and Aang had ever found out that she read sappy romance novels before going to sleep some nights… Katara thought of their reactions:

"MY SISTER READING PORN?! Katara! This is very unlady-like behaviour! Why don't I set you up with this guy I work with? He's really nice – he's divorcing his third wife now so he should be available in the next month or so." That was Sokka; her brother sure knew how to pick guys for his daughter. Katara shuddered at the three blind dates she trusted her brother to pick out for her; the first one was actually blind (Sokka didn't really get the meaning of a blind date) which could have actually turned out fine had he not kept groping her in inappropriate places and blaming it on the fact that he was blind – Katara had never missed his malicious grin every time he "accidentally" touched her; then there was the soldier who was unfortunately suffering from PTSD and was not supposed to have been released from the medical facility – he had attacked Katara and the waitress when the noise of a car backfiring had triggered unwarranted behavior. Katara had actually felt sorry for him, the hundred year war was going on far too long and had destroyed many lives. Then the third date, whom her friends kept reminding her of and laughing, was a nymphomaniac who could not stop touching himself in public. Katara sighed.

Then she imagined Aang's reaction, "Oh…er…um…" and his face would light up from embarrassment. She chuckled at Aang's innocence. If her ever found a book, he would probably not even say anything. Toph had entrusted a secret to both Suki and Katara on her hen's night (a small gathering by Katara's pool with too many drinks for just them three). Aang, although embarrassed by the mention of any sexual encounters was actually the one who introduced Toph to a whole new sensation during their intercourse. Toph was surprised that he used her blindness to heighten her other senses thus maximizing both their pleasure.

She changed into her night dress and settled into bed with the book. The protagonist, no matter how he was described by the author, was always a tall man with golden eyes, messy black hair and a strong build.

For some reason, her protagonist was always surrounded with fire, the element of danger.

Somewhere over the bridge in a room that was as big as Katara's house, a man with golden eyes and a partially scarred face was thinking of a pair of electric blue eyes. The man sighed – every night, for nearly six years, all he could think about was the woman with the electric blue eyes. He was selfish and foolish for having let her go – he should have stayed to fight. He thought about his honour and what he had done to regain it, but nothing was satisfying as when he was close to the woman he loved…still loves.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N:

Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA (unfortunately)

CHAPTER FOUR

Katara sat on the edge of Ba Sing Se Pool trying to catch her breath. She had finished coaching an hour ago and spent that time practicing her swimming and diving techniques. She loved the silky feel of the water as each stroke created multiple ripples in the otherwise calm surface. She looked at her watch and hissed, she was late for dinner with Kya. Sophia was watching her, but Katara always tried to make it home in time for dinner. She got up and went in front of her locker. She would never admit it to anyone but every time she had to leave the pool she felt a little resentment toward Kya; Katara could spend ample time in the pool but Kya was supposed to her main priority. Supposed to be… Katara thought angrily… Kya was her main priority because she made her one. Swimming would always come second to Kya. The thoughts of resentment made her angry because she knew she loved her daughter more than anything in the world. Yet, every time Katara was faced with a problem, she would blame Kya because so much of her time was spent fretting over her daughter, making sure her daughter had everything she needed and wanted… to a point where she sometimes thought that she never spent enough time thinking about her. The moments of resentment were always fleeting though and Katara always felt double the guilt. She knew Kya was not the source of the blame… it wasn't even Zuko – Katara had brought it on herself. She was glad for her choice and never had she thought that her life without Kya would be better…. Not even she felt resentful toward for robbing her of the life she could have had as a professional diver.

Katara walked to her car, head sunken in shame and disgrace. These were thoughts she always felt when she thought about the life she could have had with Kya. Her daughter was the best thing to happen to her but she would sometimes get lost in the idea of what could have been. She didn't see where she was going and bumped into someone.

"I'm so sorry!" She bent to pick her fallen car keys but the person was faster. Katara looked up to see a man with curly black hair, green eyes and a mischievous grin holding out her keys to her.

"No problem!" He drawled. Katara noted that his nails were bit, probably from too much stress.

"Er..thanks." Katara looked at him and couldn't help but smile – his demeanor elicited a happy response from her. They stood across from each other for about a minute just staring. Katara jerked as the man took a step closer to her.

"You swim?" She exhaled – she was ready to go all faux martial arts on this guy if he tried to do anything to her.

"Yeah, I'm a coach." She smiled.

"Interesting. What kind of coach?"

"Diving. And on occasion I coach butterfly technique." He smiled.

"Listen, this may sound weird, but do you want to go for coffee sometime? I have someplace I need to be but I really would love to pick your brain about the butterfly technique and diving." He flashed a grin of pearly white teeth. Katara's instinct from failed past dates told her that she shouldn't meet this guy again, but there was something about him that intrigued her to want to know more. Perhaps he would help her get over Zuko. Wait… where did that thought come from? She smiled and took out her phone.

"Just give me your number and I'll call you so you can have my number." He took out his phone too and recited his number. Katara pressed the icon with the green phone on her screen and the evening was filled with the melodic tune of "Baby Got Back". The man blushed under the florescent lighting of the street lamps.

"Younger cousins… they're…annoying." He pressed the icon with the red phone on his screen and added her to his contacts. "Name?" Katara looked at him still laughing from his ring tone.

"What?" She said smiling.

"Name – I just realized, we never exchanged names."

"Katara. Yours?" Katara pressed some buttons on her screen,

"Jet." She looked up at him.

"Nice to meet you Jet."

Katara didn't stop smiling the whole drive home.

The minute Katara opened the door the smell of freshly baked cookies wafted from the kitchen. In the living room she heard music and a lot of laughing. She put down her sports bag, took out her clothes and went to the first door on her right which was the laundry room. She stuffed her towel and gym clothes in the washing and hung her swim-suit up to dry along with her swimming cap. Then she went to the living room to investigate the noise.

"I am King Trident and I rule the underworld!" She heard Sophia mimic a man's voice.

"Daddy, there's a whole world I can explore up there." Kya turned the music up and Katara heard the familiar music of "Part of Your World". Kya and Sophia soon joined Ariel in song – the contrast between the three voices was striking; Ariel's voice was melodic and sweet, Sophia's voice was low and rough from a botched up operation on lymph nodes and Kya's voice was… to put it nicely… terrible. Katara marveled at her daughter's ability to not be able to carry a tune. She was like her father in so many ways, but the passion both of them expressed for music was unsurpassed by anyone Katara had ever met.

Katara rested against the doorframe, arms crossed in front of her. The two occupants of the living room were oblivious to her and continued to serenade each other with "Part of Your World". Katara took a look around the living room; the two "mere-people" had put blue and green tissue paper over the lamps to create the under-water scenes. Kya was dressed in a skin coloured leotard with a green skirt and a pink scarf draped around her chest; Sophia was just as kookily dressed in a skin-coloured leotard, a long green shimmery skirt holding a serving fork. Katara also noted the crown made from various coloured paper – she spied the arts and craft table in the corner with everything needed to make the crown. Looking at her daughter laughing and singing Katara's guilt over her previous thoughts at Ba Sing Se came crawling back. She couldn't believe that she would ever think that – Kya was her life.

"Ahem" Katara coughed loudly over the music. Baby-sitter and child froze. Kya ran to her mother and hugged her. Katara hugged her back, with more gusto than usual.

"Mummy, you're home!" Sophia went to the stereo and turned down the music.

"Did you have fun?" Katara smiled at Kya.

"Uh-huh! Look at what Soph brought me," She twirled around in her outfit. "She also brought paper to make crowns. I get to wear my crown at the end though because I'm not Queen yet." Katara smiled at Kya.

"I'm glad honey. How about you get washed up for dinner and sit at the table?"

"Can I wear this?" Katara nodded. Kya let out an excited laugh and ran to the kitchen to wash up.

"Thanks so much Sophia! Do you want to stay for dinner?" Katara turned to the young baby-sitter.

"No thanks Katara. I have to go back home. I have a paper due next week and I haven't started it yet!" Katara left and took out her purse.

"Six hours, that's sixty. Here's eighty, for the outfit as well." She held out the money to the young grad student.

"Oh no Katara, the usual 50's fine. I'm not going to charge extra just because you were a bit late. And the outfit's on me." Katara smiled at the girl and held out the money, minus the 30 and gave her a brief hug.

"Thank you so much. And anything you want, we're not far." Sophia waved to Katara and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

Katara and Kya ate dinner in silence; Kya was too busy bouncing in her seat and humming the Little Mermaid soundtrack while slurping her spaghetti. Katara was too busy thinking of Jet. He was a handsome man, some girls would even call him "hot" and he had the mischievous character women found sexy. Katara always preferred the silent, strong types who only spoke when they had something of substance to say and only smiled to women they were interested in. Jet seemed like the kind of played around but Katara was willing to give him a chance. He was something different and she needed that. She needed to experience something completely different to Zuko; after-all, she had only experienced the silent and strong type so now with Jet, maybe her type would change.

Kya's humming stopped.

"Mummy you got a message!" Her mouth was full of chewed up pasta and tomato sauce. Katara loved her daughter but the sight was ghastly.

"Kya, close your mouth!" She scolded. Kya opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out showing Katara the remnants of her dinner. Katara narrowed her eyes at her daughter and went to pick up her phone. She looked at the sender, JET. She smiled.

"Why are you smiling mummy? Is it auntie Suki?" Kya asked.

"No honey, it's just a friend?" Katara opened the message.

"Auntie Toph?"

"No." Katara shook her head and read the message. DINNER THIS WEEK?

"Uncle Aang?"

"No." Katara shook her head again. Capital letters, Jet really wanted her to read this message. She hit reply.

"Mrs Chi from down the street?"

"No" Katara shook her head again. Sure. Tell me a time and place.

"Mr Yoshimodo, your boss?"

"No." Katara felt her phone vibrate, she had put her phone on silent so Kya wouldn't know. HOW ABOUT YOU PICK THE SOONEST DATE YOU CAN AND CHOOSE THE RESTAURANT? PEOPLE HAVE TOLD ME I CHOOSE TERRIBLE RESTAURANTS.

"Mrs. Reese, the butcher?"

"No." Katara hit reply. She could tell him to meet tomorrow, but wasn't that a bit needy? She thought for a couple of seconds and decided to meet up with him the day after tomorrow. How about the day after tomorrow? La Mer sound good? She chose a restaurant that had all types of food.

"Is it Mr Lee, the grocer?" Katara looked at Kya whose head was propped up in her hands. She was looking at the ceiling.

"Kya, why are you asking so many questions? I said it was a friend."

"But which friend?" Katara heard the stubbornness in Kya's voice. Just like her father, she wouldn't let go until she had an answer.

"A new friend I met today at the pool." Kya clapped her hands.

"What's her name?" She was really excited.

"It's a he, and his name is Jet." Katara always believed in honesty and she always wanted her relationship with her daughter to be as open and as honest as much as she could – except with the identity of her father. But Katara knew that she was selfish when it came to Zuko.

"Can I meet him?" Kya peered at her mother through her eye-lashes which were abnormally large for a girl her age. Katara's phone vibrated.

"We'll see." Katara heard Kya huff and heard her cross her arms in anger as she opened the new message. DINNER THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW SOUNDS GREAT. HOW ABOUT COFFEE TOMORROW? Katara grinned. Sounds good. A reply came almost instantly. CAN'T WAIT. Katara sighed happily and put her phone down. She looked at her daughter and saw that Kya's arms were still folded and her mouth was formed into a frown.

"What?" Katara asked.

"I want to meet your new friend." Kya banged her elbows on the table.

"Don't bang your elbows on the table, it's not polite," Kya banged them again, her frown deepening. "Kya, don't be rude. You can meet him, but not now ok?" Kya, satisfied with the answer her mother had given her, uncrossed her arms and leapt off her chair.

"Ok." Katara rolled her eyes as her daughter went into the living room. She took both plates to the sink and washed them. The food would have to cool down before going into the fridge. She walked into the living room and saw Kya sitting on the couch, holding the remote control and surfing the channel.

"Want to watch the news with mummy?" Kya shook her head.

"No, Disney Princesses is on!" Katara sighed as she sat next to her daughter. She had to make do with taking her tablet and checking the NY Times app. The first headline she saw was:

ZUKO AGNIKAI WAY AHEAD OF OPPONENTS IN RUN FOR &COUNTY SENATOR

Katara clicked on the headline and her tablet was immediately filled with a coloured picture of Zuko and Mai; Zuko had another red tie on with a red handkerchief in his suit pocket while Mai had a red dress on with an elegant hairstyle sporting two red and black chopsticks (at least that's what Katara saw – knowing Mai's family they must have cost a bundle and made from the finest material, but all Katara saw were red chopsticks which she could have easily picked up from Mr Happy Wok down the street). Zuko had his arm around Mai and both were smiling at the cameras. Katara felt a pang of jealousy – she had met Mai at school and he was a lovely person. She had zero personality, and talked in a monotonous voice that would bring a bear out of hibernation just to maul her, but she was really nice and kind to everyone. What most people didn't know about Mai was that she had a passion for knife throwing and she had become an expert over the years. Katara scrolled down and skim read the article; it contained lots of things about what Zuko had planned for &county if he ever became Senator. Some of the stuff was really good. Katara was soon engrossed in reading his party's manifesto and was seriously thinking of giving him her vote. A soft snore from next to her startled her from her political perusing on the web. Kya had fallen asleep – even sitting on a chair she managed to sleep without slumping over. Katara pulled a blanket over her sleeping daughter and quietly took the remote control from her hands. Kya stirred a bit, but didn't wake up. Katara lowered the volume, just so that it was barely audible and changed the channels to the news. Her screen was filled with a close-up shot of Zuko speaking in the lower boroughs – his tour had already begun. His voice was raspy, Katara had always thought it sexy, and surprisingly calming. He had soothed her many a-times with his tone of voice. Katara strained to hear Zuko's speech over Kya's soft snoring. She nodded in agreement to most of the things he said – fighting corruption and creating a welfare state that would suit them all. She wanted to believe so much in what he was saying but when the camera shifted to show his team standing behind him, she saw his father smiling maliciously into the camera. Katara clicked her tongue and switched off the television with such ferocity that the button came off.

"I have to get a new remote." She muttered. She turned to Kya and wrapped her in the blanket and then carried her up the stairs to her room. Kya muttered a goodnight and snuggled in her bed while her mother tucked the sheets tightly around her. Katara went to bed, but not without reading a chapter of her book. Maybe after meeting Jet, she wouldn't need to buy another book.

The next day Katara got up and was in a good mood due to the upcoming date with Jet. She went down to breakfast with a sunny disposition that was quite opposite to her daughters'. Kya looked at her with a funny look on her face.

"Mummy, why are you so happy?" She groaned as she took a sip from her chocolate milk. Katara laughed; usually it was both of them in a foul mood in the morning and the only substances that would make them human were coffee for the mother and chocolate milk for the daughter. Katara was also happy to note that her daughter finally resembled her in a mannerism – she had never noticed that in five years because of her foul mood in the morning.

"Eat your breakfast. I'm allowed one happy day aren't I?" Kya looked at her mother, groaned and hit her head on the table. Katara fondly tussled the girl's already messy hair and kneeled down to talk to her.

"Ok baby, I'll make a deal with you. If you let mummy's one good morning pass, without saying anything to Uncle Sokka, Uncle Aang, Auntie Suki and Auntie Toph, I'll take you to the new waterpark that just opened." Katara felt bad for bribing her five–year-old but she didn't want to say anything to her friends until things were going well with Jet – if things went well with him. Kya mustered up all her excitement she could:

"Really mummy? Thank you so much!" Kya gave her mum a weak, but longer, hug to show her appreciation. Katara laughed and made her morning oatmeal.

Katara looked at her watch and smiled. She was finally off on a break. She re read the text message Jet had sent her earlier.

WHAT ABOUT THE CAFÉ "WINTER WONDERLAND"?

Katara knew the café and it was about a 15 minute ride from the bridge. She was already running a little late so she rushed to the locker room where she saw Orlenka.

"Hey Katara!" Katara cursed inwardly. It's not that she didn't want to talk to Orlenka, it was just that she was going to be really late for her date.

"Hey Orly, I'm in kind of a rush can we talk later?" Orlenka looked at Katara sheepishly.

"Actually I was wondering whether you had some time to talk." She looked serious so Katara stopped taking stuff out of her locker.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her face full concern.

"Well I mentioned to the other girls that I saw here a few days ago and we wanted to ask you for a favour."

"Sure! If I can do it, why not?" Katara thought of her old team who was like family to her. After falling pregnant with Kya, Katara lost all touch with them.

"Well… I was wondering whether… actually, the team and I were wondering whether you would consider coaching us." Katara was at a loss of words. Orlenka was part of the prestigious diving team and was training for the Olympics in two years' time.

"Sure! But, what about Coach Casey?" Casey was the coach in place when Katara joined the team.

"She left last year; family issues. Our new coach…coach Walters made a move on one of the girls. She wants to leave the team but you know us, we don't let people go that easily." Katara remembered a little too well. When she left the team without saying anything, she had to reject numerous phone calls from her team-mates. Her neighbours had also said that there were people who constantly came to look for her at her house.

"Are you sure I'm good enough to coach you guys?" Orlenka smiled at her.

"Kat, you're good enough to be on the team. But there's no opening. If Mitsuko had left, I would be asking you a completely different question."

"Mitsuko was going to leave?" Katara was shocked; the girl was an even better diver than herself. Katara looked at her watch again and cursed. "I'm so sorry Orly, I have to go. Meet here tomorrow at 6, that's when I finished my last session. Tell the team not to be late." Orlenka just nodded as Kat rushed to the showers and took an abnormally quick shower.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N

Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA (unfortunately)

Side note: Zuko is finally seen in this chapter! J For a fleeting moment though. Thank you to my faithful reviewers; every time I get a review alert, it makes me elevated with joy:

**Moon Stars and Fast Cars / Fallenfromlighttodark / Lunachan90 **

And to **Demonie0603 **your words humble me.

Side note 2: I was meant to update the story yesterday. However, since I work on my chapters during my lunch break at work, I forgot the send the finished document to me – thus concluding that I would not be able to update. Sorry! Due to this, I shall update two chapters today to make sure you get your fill J

CHAPTER FIVE

Katara made it to the café 15 minutes late. She spied Jet sitting in the corner reading a paper and frowning. He quickly fixed her hair in the mirror next to her, mouthing sorry to the couple sitting in front of it. She looked back at Jet and took a deep breath. She started walking until she was in front of him and coughed,

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" Jet looked up and his frown turned to a smile.

"Hey, no problem! I was just reading the paper." He folded the newspaper and put it on the table next to theirs. "Sit, please." Katara pulled out the chair he pointed at and sat down opposite him.

"What do you want to drink?"

"The strongest coffee they've got." Jet signalled to the waiter and gave Katara's order to him. Katara locked her fingers together and put her elbows on the table. "So, do you come here often?" She looked at him from under her eyebrows, calculating his every move.

"Yeah, it's a really nice café." At this statement, Katara turned her head and gave the room a once-over-look.

"It's nice – I used to come here all the time when I was a student five years ago. Now it's become the meeting place for a lot of political activists and it can get pretty loud." Jet smiled at her.

"What do you think of political activists?" he asked, taking a sip of his coffee, never once taking his gaze off of her.

"Well…" Before Katara could reply, the waiter had brought over her triple shot espresso cappuccino and she thanked him. "Well…" She began again and blew on her coffee, "I don't mind political activists per se. I think they sometimes do a great job protesting the injustice in this country but some take it a little too far. I went to a couple of protests when I was at University, but none of them had these violent tendencies. Nowadays, you get your political activists who fight with guns and weapons and do more damage than good. They're just pigs – they don't know that violence never solves anything." She saw him looking at her, his gaze unfaltering. She pursued her lips, "Oh shit… you're one of those political activists who meet in here aren't you?" Jet laughed.

"Don't worry, I don't march in rallied with rifles and guns. I march to keep the peace… like Gandhi in a way". Katara grinned.

"So, that's what you do… you're an activist?"

"Have you ever read the Morning Gazette?"

"If you tell me you're the author of Society Today – In A Nutshell, I am going to have a serious fangirl moment." Jet just grinned her. "Oh…my…" Katara exhaled.

"Go ahead. What kind of fan girl are you?" He laughed.

"Well, right now I want to ask for your opinion on SO many articles you've written and your opinion on so many things that are happening the Country, but I have to remember that I'm out for a coffee with a guy I like and I don't normally talk politics on the first date."

"So this is a date? And I'm a guy you like?" Katara bit her lower lip and gave a shy smile.

"Well, I did agree to dinner – most of the time I won't because if I need a quick and clean getaway, I can't do it in the middle of dinner."

"Ooo cynical. I like."

"Well, I am a bit of a cynical girl."

"I don't ordinarily talk politics with a pretty date, but that's just because my dates aren't usually the politically active type."

"Pretty date? Are you trying to compliment me?"

"Maybe."

"A little condescending, is it not? Calling a date pretty but not exactly smart."

"I didn't say my pretty dates weren't smart, just not politically active."

"So they were smart."

"No… I mean yes…in their own way." Katara grinned.

"How about we talk politics. I've been dying to know what you think about the new Medical Referendum congress passed!"

"And the controversy surrounding it." The two were so engrossed in a conversation pausing for mere seconds just to order their second and third cup of coffee. Katara felt elevated; she wasn't able to talk politics with someone since… well Zuko really. She refrained talking politics with her friends because: Aang was mostly a pacifist and tended to care more about helping the people who were in destitute due to corruption, rather than standing up to fight against the corruption; Toph was aggressive when she wanted to be but some of her economic views were too conservative for Katara, understandably so since Toph was an heiress of a huge fortune and grew up in a conservative household; Suki was not interested in politics, she mostly cared about working hard, making sure her family was well-kept and safe; and Sokka, Sokka refused to talk politics since he was in the military – his job was to protect his nation no matter who the government was against the enemy of the state. Katara revelled in the idea of being able to talk politics again with Jet who seemed to be very knowledgeable in current affairs and corruption within the government.

Katara went home smiling. She turned on the radio and didn't even skip the cheesiest, corniest songs her car speakers spout out. She sang along to some of the tunes as she cruised down the narrow streets leading to her house. Jet had put her in a surprisingly good mood and she was looking forward to seeing him tomorrow night again. She listened to half of an old love ballad before pulling up in front of her driveway. She noted the beat up Volkswagen and frowned; had something happened to Aang or Toph? She hurried into her house and saw Kya and Aang running after a pet monkey in the hallway.

"Katara! Close the door! Momo can't escape!" Katara, clearly confused by the scene being played out in front of her, closed the door behind her.

"Ok Kya, Momo's trapped. All we have to do is catch him and put him back in his cage."

"Uncle Aang… where exactly is Mo…" Katara heard Kya yell in triumph. Momo had jumped off the banister and into her open arms munching on a peach he stole from the kitchen.

"Hey! That's my peach! Aang, get that filthy monkey out of my house." Aang put Momo in his cage and looked at Katara, his grey eyes big and innocent.

"But…but…Momo's part of the family." Katara heard Toph snort loudly from the living room and gave a wry smile.

"He's probably a flea infested monkey who just gave my daughter some sort of disease. Kya go shower." Kya looked up at her mother.

"Mummy, why are you calling Momo a monkey?" Katara looked at her.

"What?"

"Momo's not a monkey." Katara looked confused.

"What is he then?"

"He's a lemur, duh!" Kya trudged up the stairs.

"Wait for me before showering!" Katara called behind her. Kya swatted her hand in response. "You, in the living room, and don't you dare leave. Same goes for your wife." Katara glared at Aang who looked like he was about to pee himself. Katara followed in her daughter's footsteps and helped her shower and get ready for bed.

"Mummy," Kya asked, yawning, as her mother tucked her sheets tightly around her, "Can we get a Momo?" Her large, golden eyes, glazed with innocence, looked at Katara; Katara wanted to say no but her conscience wouldn't allow it. She settled on a diplomatic answer that would please them both.

"We'll see." Kya, satisfied with the answer, closed her eyes and snuggled into her toasty bed. "Night baby." Katara smoothed her daughter's hair backwards and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. "Mummy loves you." Katara tiptoed out of the room and closed the door behind her. "Now, to deal with the annoying busybodies I call friends" Katara whispered and stomped down the stairs as quietly as she could.

"Hello… friends" She greeted the two sitting on her couch, their faces plastered with innocence.

"We were just in the neighbourhood…" Aang started

"…And decided to just pop by for a visit!" Toph finished. They both looked at each other and then to Katara and nodded.

"Honest!" Aang made a circular motion over his head, Toph mimicked him.

"If you are showing off your halos, you should also note that I can see the little red horns keeping the halo in place." Katara snarled. "Why are you spying on me?" She sat down in her favourite armchair opposite her two friends.

"We weren't doing any spying! Sokka wanted to come so be glad that he drew the short straw."

"Why would he want to come?" Katara paused… "Why were straws drawn?" Here Aang and Toph looked at her sheepishly.

"Well, today morning Sokka rang to ask you something and Kya answered, saying that you had gone to work early. So Sokka hung up and rang again when you were meant to be home but Sophia answered and said that you were having coffee with a friend. Naturally, Sokka rang me and Aang hoping to find you with us. Luckily for us, we were just coming back from the lower boroughs and decided to stop and have a coffee in this amazing café we heard about, "Winter Wonderland". Sokka was also in the area and we decided to all go together. We saw you sitting with a really cute boy," at this point in Toph's little speech, Aang let out a protested 'hey!', "a really cute boy," Toph emphasized and Aang's scowl grew larger, "and we wanted to know who he was. So we kind of asked the bartender who he was and how long you were both sitting there. Imagine our surprise when he said he was a political activist and had been sipping coffee with you for the past three hours!" Toph finished and turned to Aang. "Wipe that scowl off your face. I'm still married to you aren't I?"

"How do you know he was cute?" Aang persisted in scowling.

"I'm blind, not stupid. He was letting off cute vibes." Aang was confused.

"Cute vibes?" He repeated. Toph nodded. "What kind of…" Katara looked at the word sparring match and shook her head,

"Guys!" She yelled, and stood up from her chair. "You spied on me?!"

"Alaile, everyone seems to have a problem today." Toph settled back into the couch's plush cushions and folded her arms. Aang looked at Katara with a warm expression on his face.

"Katara, we weren't spying. We just happened to be in the same place as you, as chance would have it. We just didn't make our presence known."

"So you were spying!" Katara repeated.

"Yes we were spying" Toph unfolded her arms and threw them in front of her. "We were spying and we just came here to tell you that we were happy for you. We're all happy that you found someone, especially after Sifu Hotman left." At Toph's nickname for Zuko, Aang let out a strangled cry. "We wanted to come to tell you that you deserve the happiness that you found and that we all think this is healthy. If Sokka had come he would have wanted to know every single detail, which is why we cheated and took his place. We want you to be happy Katara." Katara sighed and sat back down.

"I'm sorry I was such a bitch."

"Relax Sugar Queen, you're known to overreact sometimes." Toph grinned at her.

"Sifu Hotman?" Aang turned to Toph requiring an explanation.

"Jeez Aang, inferiority complex much?"

"Hey, apparently Jet sets off cute vibes and Zuko is Sifu Hotman, you tell me if I'm overreacting." Katara grinned at her two friends. "Maybe you want Katara's place and date these guys." Toph glared in his direction.

"Excuse me? You think I want to be a single mother abandoned by the love of her life, struggling to raise a five-year-old and dating a political activist of all people? No offense Katara."

"Much offense taken Toph." Katara replied good naturedly.

"Aang, Sifu Hotman is called that because he was my tutor in chemistry. I call him that because he taught me how to make pyrotechnics with household ingredients."

"And the cute vibes?"

"That I can't explain. He sounds cute, walks cute, and smells cute. Thus I deduce that he's cute."

"He does smell good, doesn't he?" Katara mused.

"Change my name from Twinkletoes then."

"Aang, if you didn't want to be called Twinkletoes, then you shouldn't have been a ballerina dancer in high school!"

"Hey! I wasn't a ballerina. My instructor said that I was light on my feet so I was perfect as a male dancer." He emphasized the "male dancer" part.

"Whatever. Hey Katara, we should be heading off. The new family addition has to meet the hippo in the pond.

"He has a name!" Aang followed Toph to the door, holding Momo's cage.

"I am not calling that thing Appa ok? He is mucking up my pond!"

"But… but… you said you like him." He said, helping her put on her coat.

"Liked, when he was a baby. He was small. Now, he takes up half my bloody garden!" She opened the door and stepped out.

"Hey, don't exaggerate. His pond does take up most of the garden, but not half!" Aang turned to Katara. "Bye Katara! And sorry again for spying on you." Katara waved him off.

"No problem."

"It's MY pond! Not his! I had to make another pond for my koi fish!" Toph turned to Katara. "Bye Kat. Tell us how it goes with Jet. We want you to be happy." And waved goodbye.

"Bye guys!" Katara waved and heard Aang and Toph bickering until they reached the car. She grinned; Aang was not gonna get any tonight poor guy. Toph hated the hippo in her garden. She couldn't host the banquets and dinners she wanted in her backyard because the hippo seemed to put a lot of people off.

A month passed and Katara found herself falling for Jet more as time went by. She leaned over the now-familiar mattress and picked up the discarded newspaper. The front page was mostly taken up by a smiling Zuko and Mai; their tour in the lower boroughs only lasted a month. Katara snorted; Zuko could never stand the "peasantry" of the lower borough and always avoided it when he could.

"Morning." A sleepy voice said. Katara turned to the messy haired, green eyed man next to her.

"Morning!"

"You're in a good mood." Katara laughed.

"I've been up for an hour. I already showered and drank my coffee, so I'm human." Jet sat up and leaned against the bed frame. Katara smiled at him and held out a cup of steaming coffee. "You are a goddess." Katara grinned.

"Thank you, thank you very much." She made a movement to get out of bed but Jet stopped her.

"Where are you going?" He looked at her over the top of his mug.

"Work. I have to coach a new athlete." Jet groaned.

"You have a new athlete? That means you have to work more." Katara sprung out of bed and picked up her discarded clothes. Jet observed her from his spot.

"Well, money is a little tight at the moment. I want Kya to get into this really good school…"

"A private school?" Jet spat out. Katara looked at him. She straightened up, holding her dirty laundry as she did so.

"Yes, a private school. I know what you think about them, but it's the best in &county. Kya is a smart girl and she can benefit so much from going there." Jet growled.

"She can get just as good an education going to a state school. You went to one. I went to one!"

"Yes we did. But I want Kya to have a different life from mine. My classmates were getting pregnant at 15, others were dropping out when they found things too hard… it was rough for some of them." Jet took a sip of his coffee.

"Well obviously Kya's not stupid enough to get pregnant before finishing college and those kids who quit because they found things too hard didn't have you as a mother." The air suddenly grew still and Jet looked up to see Katara glaring at him. He paled as he remembered his earlier comment about pregnancy.

"I was pregnant in my first year at University…" her voice was cold and uncalculating.

"Katara…" Jet put his mug on his bedside table.

"Save it." Katara bundled up her clothes, picked up her bag and left. She got into the car just as Jet stumbled outside the apartment, without shoes, fumbling to put a jumper on. She couldn't hear him over the noise of the engine. She reversed out onto the street and headed to work, making sure not to blink and let the tears escape.

Katara was in a foul mood and the athletes knew it. She was stricter than usual and demanded more out of them. They complied, to the most of their abilities, but were more than happy when their session was over. Katara snarled a good-bye to her last solo session and waited for the diving team to arrive. She had a few minutes before their session and decided to take a dive just to clear her mind. She climbed the familiar ladder which led her to the highest board. She inhaled and exhaled a few times, practicing her breathing technique and ran across the board to jump. As she dove, her eye caught a figure dressed in red:

'It can't be.' she thought just before she splashed into the water. She made a clean break for the surface and swam to the edge of the pool. Her suspicions were right, the figure clad in red was Mai, which meant that he wasn't far away. She pulled herself out of the pool, as gracefully as she could with her jelly legs and walked up to Mai. She heard talking the distance and photo flashes going off.

"Hello Katara." Mai smiled and extended a hand. Katara was dubious as to whether her smile was genuine or whether she had practiced for the cameras so much, fake smiling came second nature to her.

"Hello Mai." Katara gripped Mai's hand. "Sorry I'm wet." Mai was holding a towel in her other hand and gave it to Katara. "Thanks…" Katara looked at her suspiciously before wiping her face with the towel.

"This way, Mr. AgniKai…" Katara looked up from her towel and froze. Mai's smile faltered a bit. "This is the diving team's coach. She's one of the best in The Country and we're glad she's coaching out team." Katara willed the annoying speaking man to go away. He was the team's publicist and her number one enemy as of this moment. "Mr. AgniKai may I introduce you to…" Katara turned out, hand extended and a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Katara?" Zuko said in a stunned voice and froze.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N

Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA (unfortunately)

Previously on "While You Were Gone":

_"__This way, Mr. AgniKai…" Katara looked up from her towel and froze. Mai's smile faltered a bit. "This is the diving team's coach. She's one of the best in The Country and we're glad she's coaching out team." Katara willed the annoying speaking man to go away. He was the team's publicist and her number one enemy as of this moment. "Mr. AgniKai may I introduce you to…" Katara turned out, hand extended and a fake smile plastered on her face._

_"__Katara?" Zuko said in a stunned voice and froze. _

CHAPTER SIX

Katara felt her stomach do a back flip at the sound of his raspy voice. Mai glided over to Zuko and put an arm on his shoulder.

"Zuko honey," She said through gritted teeth, keeping her smile on for the photographers, "When someone extends their hand, it's customary to shake it." She squeezed his shoulder so hard that he winced in pain – the first facial expression he had shown since seeing Katara.

"Katara, you're the diver that won a gold medal six years ago at the Nationals." Zuko smiled and shook her hand. All Katara could do was nod – she tried not to gasp at his touch as he shook her hand, longer than what was usual custom. The annoying publicist turned to Zuko and Katara and smiled.

"Oh we have a fan in our midst!" Zuko's smile faded.

"What?" He looked at the publicist.

"A fan of the diving team. Katara was our best diver. We had high hopes from her… well until…" Katara interrupted the publicist before the idiot revealed things she didn't want to Zuko to know.

"So Mr AgniKai, you're going to observe us today?" Zuko looked at her with a blank expression. Mai intervened.

"Oh Katara, you will allow us to call you Katara right?" Katara nodded, "We would love to observe the coaching of the diving team." Mai elbowed Zuko in the gut. He immediately nodded enthusiastically. The publicist looked positively giddy with excitement.

"Well this is an honour! Katara, this is a testament to you. I thought you were only going to stay for a few minutes, if I had known..." Zuko held up his hand, commanding silence.

"We will sit on the bleachers." He took Mai's hand into his own and turned toward the bleachers. They sat a few rows up after observing the wet seats on the lower tier and trained their eyes on Katara. Thankfully, Orlenka and the rest of the team had shown up.

"Hey Katara!" She spied Mai, Zuko and the photographers on the bleachers. "Ooo, we have a crowd today!" Katara nodded.

"Listen, they'll be observing you so make sure the rest of the team doesn't muck off like the other times." Orlenka gave her a nod and hurried off to tell her team-mates about the observers.

Katara noted that this was one of the best practices she had had with the team to date.

"Maybe I should invite people over more often." She muttered. She blew her whistle and called the divers to her attention.

"Ok guys, what I want you to do is find a partner." Everyone scrambled off the find someone. "Ok now what we're going to do are some breathing exercises." The team groaned. Katara made them do breathing exercises once a week and they hate it. "Guys, shut up." She heard the publicist inhale sharply from across the bleachers and promptly ignore him. "We have to work on breathing techniques because you aren't making a clean break from the water. You lose too much air on the way down and most of you are gasping of air when you come to the surface." She led them to the mini pool which was for the small kids learning how to swim; Katara liked using the pool for breathing exercises. "Everyone into the pool. AND NO JUMPING INTO THE POOL! It's shallow and you can hurt yourselves." The team unanimously rolled their eyes.

"Yes mother." One muttered and the other team members laughed. They all slid into the pool where the water came up to their chest. "Pair up." Everyone waddled to their respective partners. "Ok, one of you is going to be under water, practicing the breathing techniques we've been doing. The other has to make sure that their partner is ok. Capish?" Everyone nodded. She was just going over the formalities for the guests, this happened on a weekly basis since training with Katara and so they were familiar with the exercise. Truth be told, they may have grumbled about the breathing exercise, but most of them had found the clean break easier since starting them.

Katara finished off the session with a few laps in the big pool. As she was about to leave she saw the publicist running toward her and inwardly cursed.

"Katara, before you leave, I want you to take a photo with the whole team and our honoured guests." Katara looked at him as if he had spouted another head.

"Excuse me?" The publicist glared at her and then turned to smile at Zuko and Mai who were waiting patiently by the photographers. He gripped her upper arm rather hard and pulled her to follow him.

"This is good publicity. Zuko AgniKai has shown interest in sponsoring the team. If he becomes Senator, which he probably is, it would be great to be backed up by him. Now go stand beside them and smile, or so help me I will fire you and make you redundant as a coach." Katara's eyes widened at his threat. She was an excellent coach with an even better reputation but he had connections as a publicist she could never make. She put on her fake smile and went to stand close to Mai making her the barrier between her and Zuko. Mai frowned and looked at Katara, and Zuko,

"Hold on." The photographers paused their index fingers over the shutter button. "This won't do. Aesthetically, Zuko should be in the middle. He's the tallest." She then proceeded on fixing the back row by putting the taller team members in the middle. "There we go." She smiled at her finished result and took her place next to Zuko. "Zuko, put your arms around both our waists." She chided. Katara glared at her while trying to keep her fake smile as bright as possible. 'Aesthetically, maybe my fist should break your nose' she thought and cursed Mai inwardly with all the curse-words she knew – and they were a lot; living in the lower borough, she learned how to cuss like a native. Zuko put his arm around both women; Katara could feel the warmth of his fingertips through her swimsuit. Her heart was doing the clenching thing it did every time she was near Zuko. She chided herself for turning into a teenager around him. His grip around her waist tightened and Katara was sure he had left burn marks wherever he touched. The flash of the cameras brought her back to the scene at hand. When the last photographer was happy with his shot, Katara felt the muscles in her cheeks tightening from smiling way too much for way too long. She escaped Zuko's grip, immediately missing his touch, and walked to her locker to get changed. She wouldn't even bother showering - she had to get home as soon as possible.

When Katara pulled into the drive-way she saw a lone figure sitting on her doorstep anxiously biting his nails. Katara sighed as she pulled the hand-break – amidst the commotion that happened at work she had forgotten what had transpired between her and Jet this morning. Jet looked up at her as she walked toward the door.

"Didn't you have a rally today?" She asked as she unlocked the door. Jet got up and brushed the dirt off his trousers.

"I did, but I think this is more important. My team can manage. I trained them well." He managed a small smile at his success. "Can I come in?" Katara looked at him for a minute before beckoning him inside.

Once over the threshold Jet sighed in comfort and rubbed his hands for warmth.

"It was really cold outside." He noted. Katara mutely took off her jacket and hung it by the door. She held her hand out signaling for Jet to give her his coat, and he did.

"Want some tea?"

"Got anything stronger?" He asked as he followed her into the kitchen.

"Sokka gave me this weird concoction he created called Cactus Juice." Jet made a weird face. "It's not as bad as it sounds. It's actually quite refreshing. After too many shots though, you start hallucinating so be careful." Katara remembered the Christmas party at Sokka's house where his famous 'Cactus Juice' made its debut. She laughed; he went around thinking he was in some sort of jungle and made strangled noises in lieu of coherent speech. Katara poured them both a generous amount of Cactus Juice and sat down at the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry." Jet spoke before sitting down on the chair. He took a sniff of Cactus Juice and subsequently took a sip. He looked at Katara in approval of the drink.

"Listen, I know how you meant to say it. I don't want Kya to follow in my footsteps – having a kid at 18 is hard! And it is stupid to have a kid when you're not ready. Thankfully, I refused to be helped by the government so I got to where I am today through sheer determination and will." Jet nodded. He was somewhat proud of the woman standing in front of him. She had been through so much and yet she never stopped working to make Kya's life better; he admired her immensely.

"I admire you so much and I know that you have achieved a lot on your own. Which is why I regret my words." Katara cupped his face in her small hand,

"It's fine. Drink your cactus juice." Jet smiled at her.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" Katara grinned.

"Perhaps." She drained her glass and poured herself another shot. Jet looked around the kitchen as Katara sipped at her second shot.

"Nice." He noted. Katara looked up with him.

"It's a kitchen – just like any other."

"It's big." He observed. "And there's another floor."

"Well, I'm still paying it off and all the furniture inside so…" Katara drained her second shot of cactus juice and opted for a beer instead of more of the lethal drink.

"Hit me with one of those." Jet pointed to the beer.

"What? Cactus juice not to your liking?" Katara teased as she passed him a beer.

"No… I just prefer more… conventional drinks." He twisted the bottle open and took a large swig. He smacked his lips in satisfaction. "Now this is good." Katara laughed. Jet took another look around, "Where's this daughter you're constantly talking of?"

"She's having a sleep over at my brother's this week. I'm picking her up tomorrow."

"School?"

"Toph takes her on the way to the lower boroughs."

"Ah." Jet took another swig of his beer. "So that means we have to house to ourselves." He grinned mischievously.

"Why yes. What do you have in mind?"

As Katara drove to her brother's house, she smiled at last night's events. Jet had made sure he got really well acquainted with the house… and Katara. They then spent the rest of the night just talking about random things from their past and their hopes for the future. She pulled into Sokka's driveway and got out of the car. The clouds above looked menacing and ready to explode. She quickly rapped the door hoping to get her daughter quickly and make it home before the storm came. She heard Sokka and Suki yelling at the twins before answering the door; both were red in the face and sweating.

"I swear we're raising the devil's kids." Sokka pulled Katara into the house. "Look at what my kids did with your daughter!" Katara had to bite back a laugh. The kids had gone into the garden and brought in all the dirt to make an indoor-style garden. They had also cut up Suki's prized flower-bed and placed them in the make-shift garden. Katara knew she would have to discipline Kya, but she had to marvel at the kid's ability to stir up sh… Katara caught wind of a horrible, disgusting odour coming from the indoor-garden and stumbled back from then stench.

"What is that?" She pinched her nose closed. Sokka grimaced.

"That, my dear sister, is the lovely, scent of fertilizer. The best cow dung in the country sure to make your organic garden glow with pride." Katara held her nose and went back to the door. Wow, her daughter really had a knack of literally stirring up shit. She called Kya downstairs.

"KYA!" Her voice took on an authorative tone. Kya was followed by her two cousins.

"I didn't do it!" She yelled as she ran down the stairs. Katara bent over until she was face to face with her daughter. "Ok fine, I did do it." Kya confessed under her mother's scrutinizing gaze. Katara turned to face her nephews who were cowering under her stern gaze. Kya looked at her cousins who were about to cry. "We'll clean up mummy! Don't worry. We'll make sure Auntie Suki and Uncle Sokka won't have to do a thing!" She took her cousins' hands and led them to the living room.

"Hey!" Sokka brightened up, "They're cleaning the living room! How did ya do it sis?" He draped an arm over her shoulders. Katara blew on her nails and rubbed them against her shoulder; she turned to face Sokka with a smug look on her face.

"That my dear brother, is five years of successful parenting. Kya knows that she shouldn't do the crime if she can't do that time."

"I'll trade ya. Two for the price of one!" Katara laughed and hit her brother over the head.

"Offer me some tea while our kids are cleaning." Katara followed Sokka to the kitchen. While the kettle was boiling, Suki came in looking behind her.

"Sokka, have you seen the kids cleaning up the living room?" She looked so shocked, Katara was unable to hold back a hearty laugh.

"My sister is the baby whisperer. Remember how she was able to put Yoshi to sleep when no one else could? All she had to do was hold him!" Suki looked at her sister-in-law with wide eyes.

"We'll trade you, two for the price of one!" She pleaded. Katara laughed – no wonder Suki and Sokka's relationship worked. They were so different yet so similar.

"I already tried that." Sokka sounded like a beaten man as he gave Katara her ready-made tea.

Three hours later the smell of cow dung had seeped through the walls and into the kitchen. The three grownups were gagging at the smell and went into the living room to see how their kids were faring. The living room was spotless, except for a few traces of where the garden had been scattered around the hardware floors. The kids looked exhausted and sitting on the floor covered in dirt.

"Ok kids, how about you shower and we'll take you out to dinner? Your mother can't cook in the kitchen since the smell is so bad."

"What smell?" The three kids said as one. Katara shook her head. They had been inhaling cow-dung for the past three hours that the smell had become normal to them.

"Sokka, I have to take Kya home. It looks like a storm."

"Nonsense. We'll go out to dinner, my treat, and you'll stay the night if the storm is too bad." Sokka followed the kids up the stairs and to the bathrooms. "You take the guest bathroom and we'll take the kids' bathroom." Katara led Kya to the guest bathroom and made sure she was doused in all kinds of aromatic soaps and shampoos. By the end of her shower Kya smelt a field – the scent of various flowers overpowering the faint scent of cow poop. Katara grimaced at the fact that this was the best she could do and led her daughter down the stairs where a similar look was on both her brother and sister-in-law's face. The three younger cousins snickered as they all took a whiff of each other.

"I win!" Kya said putting her hand up. "I smell most of cow poop!" Katara shot a glare at her daughter who didn't even notice. The grownups ushered the kids out the door.

"Where's Ikem?" Katara noticed the sullen boy wasn't with them.

"He… he had to study." Sokka started the car with a strange look on his face. Suki rubbed her baby bump and sported a similar expression on her face. Katara decided to drop the issue and asked where they were going.

"There's this really nice restaurant that's just opened and we've been dying to try it out. Today it's open to the public without reservations." Sokka carefully maneuvered the car on the busy streets. The cousins were animatedly chatting between themselves while the grownups were silent.

The restaurant wasn't what Katara was expecting in this part of an upscale neighbourhood. It was a family restaurant that served big portions and everyone was dressed casually. She saw her daughter's expression as she noted the colourful menus, the bustling waiters and the abundance of food – the latter expression was also seen on Sokka's face whose mouth was open and dribbling saliva. Suki closed her husband's mouth as she turned to the waiter explaining that they wanted a table for seven people. The waiter turned showed them to a big table in the corner and sat them down with their respective menus.

"Anything to drink?"

"I'd like a white wine." Sasuke cheekily said. "And my brother would like beer on tap. My cousin over there would like your finest red wine." The waiter looked at Sasuke, his smile drained. Suki laughed nervously.

"He's just kidding!" She turned to Sasuke, "Where did you learn all these drinks?"

"That's what you and dad order when we go out to dinner with Auntie Katara." The waiter raised an eyebrow at Suki and point at her baby bump. Suki blushed from embarrassment.

"I haven't drunk red wine since becoming pregnant." She hastily told the waiter. The waiter just smiled.

"I'm not judging ma'am. How about I bring the young gentlemen a root beer, which is like beer but better, and for the young lady I'll bring a glass of our finest cranberry juice." Kya blushed at being called a young lady and turned shyly away from the waiter.

"The rest of us will have a coke." Sokka said to the waiter, smiling.

"Diet for me." Suki signaled.

"Me too." Katara put up her finger. The waiter was about to leave and then turned around and sniffed. His expression turned from cheer to horror.

"I am so sorry, the toilets must be malfunctioning again; I'll move you right away." The three cousins grinned while the grown-ups, and Kenzo, looked embarrassed.

"Er…that's ok. Our kids had a little accident." Suki said trying to avoid the waiter's puzzled look.

"With fertilizer." Sokka added.

"And I won!" Kya put up her hand which Katara promptly snatched back down and put under the table.

"That's nothing to be proud of!" She hissed. The waiter looked at the part of seven with a puzzled look on his face. He was going to be serving some weird people. As soon as he left Kya turned to Katara.

"Mummy, I have to pee!"

"Didn't I tell you to pee before you left the house?"

"But I didn't need to pee then!" She wiggled in her chair. "Please mummy! I need to pee!" Katara sighed.

"I'll be back." She said to the group and took her daughter to the bathroom.

Katara waited outside while her daughter went to pee – she didn't want to think of all the things that could go wrong, letting her daughter pee in a cubicle alone. As she mused over all the possibilities, a shadow loomed over her.

"Hi Katara." A familiar, raspy voice greeted her. Katara looked up and saw Zuko giving her a half smile. Her expression changed to horror as she silently begged her daughter to take a longer time to pee.

"Hi Zuko." Zuko frowned as he noted her expression change.

"Are you ok?"

"Mhm." She squeaked. "I…uh…" She looked back into the bathroom. "I have to go…" Katara heard her daughter's footsteps and muttered a curse. Zuko looked confused.

"Mummy," Zuko's eyes widened at the little girl who had come through the door. Katara closed her eyes hoping that this was a cruel joke fate had put her way. "I'm done!" She looked up at Katara and smiled. Then she noted the man opposite her mother. Her mouth fell open, his eyes… The man knelt down until he was level with her face. She had finally seen someone else with golden eyes! She had never seen someone with the same coloured eyes as her.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N

Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA (unfortunately)

Previously on "While You Were Gone":

_"__Mummy," Zuko's eyes widened at the little girl who had come through the door. Katara closed her eyes hoping that this was a cruel joke fate had put her way. "I'm done!" She looked up at Katara and smiled. Then she noted the man opposite her mother. Her mouth fell open, his eyes… The man knelt down until he was level with her face. She had finally seen someone else with golden eyes! She had never seen someone with the same coloured eyes as her. _

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kya's eyes bore into Zuko's. Golden eyes stared back from the man knelt in front of her. She lifted her hand to touch Zuko's face. Katara inhaled sharply – what would Zuko do? He hated people touching his scar. Zuko saw Kya moving her hand toward his marred face – he could feel the heat from her fingertips barely touching his scar. He closed his eyes, 'she's scared of me' he thought. He knew Kya was his daughter the minute he laid eyes on her – she was the perfect mix between him and Katara, anyone could see that. 'My own daughter thinks I'm a monster' he felt the blood drain from his face and subsequently felt faint. Kya touched his closed eye-lid,

"Mine" She said. Zuko's eyes fluttered open and saw that with her other hand, she was touching the corner of her eye. Zuko smiled; she wasn't scared. Katara looked at her daughter's poignant first meeting with her father.

"What's your name?" He asked, his voice barely audible. Kya looked up at her mother. She wasn't meant to talk to strangers but she was somehow drawn to this man who had the same coloured eyes as her. Her mother nodded,

"Kya." Her big smile elicited a smile from him.

"How old are you?"

"Five. Nearly six." She said proudly. Zuko smiled on the outside but cursed inwardly. She was his daughter. Katara had given birth in the end and she hadn't told him. Kya looked at the man in front of her – he had a funny expression on his face; it was like her mother's when she wanted to yell at her for something she did but wanted to laugh at the same time – kind of like that time she had crossed the street without looking and nearly got hit by a car. Katara took Kya's hand,

"I'm sorry Mr. AgniKai, we have to be going." Zuko straightened to his full height, towering over Katara and Kya.

"Go where?"

"We're eating lunch with my brother and his family." She replied curtly. She was about to leave when Zuko caught her wrist.

"We need to talk." He growled in a low voice. She turned up to look at him.

"Let me go." She said and yanked her wrist away from his firm grip. She walked back to the table and was thankful for the chair as she sunk into it – her feet had turned weak from the encounter with Zuko.

"What took you so long?" Sokka asked. "I'm HUNGRY!"

"Mummy and I met a strange man in the hallway! He had the same eyes as me!" Sokka and Suki turned to Katara. She just nodded, affirming their suspicions. Suki cleared her throat.

"Ok kids, we'll order for you, you can all go and play." The three cousins cheered and ran toward the play pit. Katara felt a bit weird letting her daughter go where Zuko could easily spot her and talk to her again without her supervision. Kenzo looked at his parents and his aunt expectantly.

"I'm guessing, you want me to go take care of them?" Suki smiled at him.

"Please." Kenzo took a well-leafed comic book out of his back pocket and followed his brothers and cousin to the play-pit.

"Ok, what happened?" Suki took a sip of her diet coke and waited for Katara to sort her thoughts.

"He saw Kya." Was all she said after a few moments of silence. The waiter came and took their order. Sokka ordered enough to feed a whole platoon as usual.

"Are you ok?" Suki asked putting a comforting hand on Katara's shoulder.

"I don't know."

"Of course she's not ok! The man she loved, broke her heart six years ago when he found she was pregnant, and now he finds out that she kept A BABY from him." Katara looked around – her brother's little outburst made the nearby tables look at them funny.

"Sokka, shut up!" She muttered. He took a look around.

"We're talking about a new soap opera that airs its new episode today!" Suki slapped her forehead and Katara sighed at her brother's stupidity.

"What about Jet?" Suki asked. Katara looked at her with a confused expression.

"What about him?"

"Well now that Zuko's back…" Katara interrupted Suki before she could go on.

"Now that Zuko's back, what? He's engaged to Mai, remember? Just because he came back into my life, which we don't know if he has, does not mean anything is going to happen between us. Our paths have crossed for the first time in nearly six years. He was in France learning how to be a bullshitter and I was here trying to make mine and my daughter's life stable."

"But… Zuko's a politician." Sokka pointed out. He was confused for a minute before he understood the innuendo and burst out laughing. "BULLSHITTER! HAHA! Cause politicians bullshit all the time!" He held his sides from the laughter. Suki and Katara tried to hide their faces from the gazes of their neighbours.

"Sokka!" Katara growled. "Shut up!" Sokka slapped his thigh one last time, let his laughter subside into a giggle and was finally quiet.

When the food came, the grownups had to change topics since Kya was coming back.

"I've texted Toph a summary of this evening's happenings." Sokka told Katara. "Expect a message from her at any moment. Katara sighed. She loved her best friends but she needed some time to think about everything that had happened today. Thunder rolled ominously in the distance. Katara knew that she was not going to be able to cross the bridge if the storm came. She would have to settle for staying at Sokka's which meant sleeping on the dung infested couch in their living room because all rooms were occupied by at least two kids. Katara felt her phone vibrate, it was a message from Toph.

Princess and Chibi Princess: drinks later at my house? You can actually sleep in a bed if you come here and not on a couch. Katara grinned.

"Sokka, Suki – Kya and I will be going to Toph and Aang's if that's ok."

"You choose Toph over your own flesh and blood? I'll remember this." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I choose to sleep in a bed that won't smell of dung." Katara pointed out. Sokka thought about it for a while and nodded in defeat.

"Fine. But our couch is really comfortable." Suki slapped her husband on the back of the head.

"We got the offer for a sleepover at Toph's too. We'll go home, pick up Ikem, you pick up your car, and we'll rendezvous at the BeiFong estate."

"And you can meet Momo!" Kya told her cousins excitedly.

"Momo?" Sasuke asked.

"Uncle Aang's flying lemur!" Katara rolled her eyes. That flea infested monkey was not going within ten feet of Suki. The fleas could be dangerous for her baby.

"Lemurs don't fly." Kenzo said in a bored voice.

"This one does. It jumps from place to place so fast it's like it's flying." Sasuke and Syao looked at their parents.

"Mummy, Daddy, can we get a flying lemur too?" Katara looked at her brother and his wife and bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"We'll see." Suki patted her sons' hands.

"If you put a lemur in the house, I'm gone. Our hands will already be filled with a baby!" Kenzo narrowed his eyes at his parents.

"Why don't we talk about this later? Who wants desert?" Sokka counted the three hands that immediately shot in the air at the sound of desert. "Majority rules"

"We'll meet you at Toph's ok?" Suki shouted over the pouring rain. Katara heard lightning strike and paled. Thankfully the drive to Toph's was less than ten minutes away. Kya and Katara hurried into the car.

"Are you strapped in honey?" Kya buckled her belt clumsily and put her hands up so Katara could inspect her work. Nodding in approval, Katara turned on the ignition. Her car slid precariously out of the driveway and Katara immediately stepped on the brakes. She would have to drive to Toph's slower. They were going to stay at Sokka's place, because of the storm, but the smell of cow dung was over powering. Even Ikem was begging to stay the night elsewhere.

Katara turned on her fog lights and put her rain-wipers to the maximum. She gripped the steering wheel with a little more force than needed; she was scared. She had never driven in a storm like this before. She glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw Kya's panic-stricken expression. Kya loved observing storms from the comfort of her own house with her mother but she had never been caught out in a storm before. Katara's car skidded over the wet road and it took all of Katara's might not to show her fear. Her little car with practically no horsepower was no match for the rain. She drove a little slower – at this rate it would be a miracle if they arrived at Toph's house in less than half an hour. The car skidded again and this time Katara lost complete control. She stomped on the breaks and the car skidded to a halt just in time before they hit a traffic light pole. Katara turned off her car and turned on the hazard lights.

"Are you ok back there, baby?" Katara turned to see Kya clutching the side of her safety chair. She gave a solemn nod. Katara rubbed her hands up and down her arms to warm herself up; with the car engine off, they had lost the heating. Her rear-view mirror suddenly filled with light and, as much as Katara hated doing this, she got out of the car and signaled the car to stop. It was a big land rover, a perfect car for this type of weather. The driver turned down the window and Katara double backed in shock,

"Get your kid and sit in the back." A bored voice drawled. Katara, not wanting to waste any more time with a scared daughter, hurried to Kya's door and transferred her from one car to another. By the time they were secured in the car, the two girls were sopping wet.

"I'm sorry for mucking up your seats. I'll pay the dry cleaner's bill." Although she knew the bill would put a huge dent in her account balance, Katara had her pride to maintain.

"Don't worry about it." Black eyes looked at her from the rear-view mirror and a pale, skinny hand waved her off. The driver turned the heat up and Katara was thankful for that. She held Kya close to her, buckling her in the same seat-belt. Katara looked out the window as they drove in silence – Kya was too busy trying to keep warm in her mother's embrace. The car skidded to a halt a few minutes later in front of a big house. Katara looked at the driver.

"This isn't your house." She stated. The driver shook her head.

"No," She drawled, "I wasn't going there." Katara looked outside the window and saw the garage door open.

"Um… would it be too much trouble if you could take us to the BeiFong estate?" The driver looked at her through the rear-view mirror.

"Yes it would. If you were listening to the news, a big tree was struck by lightning cutting us off from the main avenue. I'm not going to brave the back roads just so you can avoid seeing him." The driver pulled the hand break and her door opened revealing a butler.

"Hello Mrs. Shroud welcome back. I trust the journey wasn't too hard?"

"No it wasn't. Please tend to my two passengers in the back. They are personal friends of mine and Mr. AgniKai's. They are to be treated as guests of the estate." The butler nodded.

"Of course." Katara opened her door, nearly hitting the butler in the process.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" She cried.

"It's fine ma'am." He held out a gloved hand and helped her out of the car. Katara got out, Kya hanging on her neck from fright.

"It's ok baby." She said, soothing her daughter. The butler peered in the car and scrunched up his nose at the dripping seats and puddles on the floor.

"Yeah, about that. Sorry." Katara apologized. The butler brushed her off.

"Tends to happen in a storm like this ma'am." He bowed to her and Kya and led them through a door. "I shall fetch you clean clothes. Just wait in the living room." Katara saw the butler leave. He didn't show her where the living room was but if memory served right, it was just to their left. She and Kya stopped in front a large wooden door which was left slightly ajar. She could hear voices.

"They're here now?" He sounded worried.

"Yes, and don't fret. It'll be ok. Ask them to stay the night." The bored voice drawled. Katara pushed open the door. Kya's eyes widened in shock as she saw the man from the restaurant standing in front of her.

"Mr. Yellow Eyes!" She exclaimed. Zuko looked confused.

"I think she's referring to you." Mai nudged him with her shoulder. Zuko walked over to his two guests.

"You guys are wet." Katara looked sheepishly at the muddy trail she had left on the wooden floor.

"Yeah…er… sorry. I'll pay for that." This storm was putting a huge dent in Katara's savings and she wasn't too happy about it.

"Nonsense." Zuko waved her off. "I'll have clean clothes brought to you."

"Oh, um, the guy, the butler said he would do that." And true to his word the butler appeared in the living room holding two sets of clothes.

"I'm afraid I couldn't find any clothes for the young girl, we only have Mr. Zuko's old clothing from when he was a child. Unfortunately, Ms. Azula's baby clothes burned in a fire."

"Oh that's fine! Where can we change." The butler eyed the two dripping guests and the muddy trail they were leaving on the floor.

"Er… the closest bathroom is… er… follow me." Katara held Kya firmly in her arms and followed the butler. He showed them to the bathroom. "Fresh towels and soap are in the shower. Katara thanked him and closed the door. She and Kya quickly showered and got dressed. The clothes she wore looked familiar. It was a t-shirt with her old University's logo on it and trackies from her old swim team. She gasped when she realized these were the clothes she had brought with her the last time she came to stay at Zuko's house. He had kept her clothes; she sniffed her t-shirt, it smelled of him. She looked down at Kya who was eyeing her weirdly…

"Mummy, are you ok? Do your clothes smell?" Katara smiled at her.

"No honey!" She led her daughter out the door. 'It doesn't smell bad, it smells amazing.' She kept that thought to herself though. The butler was waiting outside the living room and produced a laundry basket for their wet clothes.

"Thank you." Katara smiled as she placed the wet clothes in the basket.

"Thank you Mister!" Kya gave the butler a toothy grin. He couldn't help but chuckle in reply. Katara recognized the butler, from the last time she was here. He was the one who practically raised Zuko when his dad decided that Zuko would be better off with his uncle. High Court Judge Iroh was Zuko's uncle from his father's side and the only parent Zuko recognized after his mother left them. The butler pushed open the doors and showed them through. Zuko immediately got up from Mai's side; Katara felt a pang of jealousy as she noticed how close Zuko and Mai were sitting.

"Hi." Zuko stared at Kya, he couldn't get over how much she looked like him. Mai got up gracefully and stood next to him. Katara felt that pang of jealousy again.

"I'm had some tea brought over, if you would like some." She gestured at the tea on the table in front of her. Kya eyed the cookies with relish.

"Thank you." Mai nodded and smiled sweetly at Kya who had wandered over to the tray of cookies and bit into one. Suddenly, a roll of thunder was heard that shook the whole house. Kya dropped the cookie and ran to her mother, clutching her mother's thigh with all her might. She usually liked storms, but Katara had the windows open so she could see what was happening, made hot chocolate with marshmallows and put Little Mermaid on repeat until Kya fell asleep, and even then, she slept in the same bed with her mother. Zuko's face was full of concern. He went towards Kya and knelt in front of her. She looked at him from behind her mother's thigh.

"Hi Kya" he smiled sweetly at her, "do you want to come and sit on the couch with me? We'll watch whatever you want." Kya peeked at him with her golden eyes,

"Do you have the Little Mermaid?" She asked, her voice barely making it above a whisper. Zuko looked at Katara who just shrugged at him.

"Er… I guess I can get it on demand." He looked at Mai, he was useless with technology. She smiled sadly at the three, a broken family in need of desperate reconciliation. She took the remote from the table in front of her and turned on the TV. A few pushed buttons later, and the voice of sailors filled the room. Kya ran from behind her mother's legs and sat next to Mai. Before gluing her eyes to the screen, she hugged the slender girl, whose eyes widened in surprise. Zuko returned to his full height and looked Katara straight in the eyes.

"Are you ok?" He asked. "Do you need anything?" Katara nodded.

"I need a phone, I left mine in the car. I have to ring my brother and friends. Zuko pulled a phone out of his pocket and handed it over to Katara.

"Thanks." Katara walked towards the door and dialed her brother's number. He answered on the first ring:

"Sifu Hotman?" Katara didn't even register how Sokka knew it was Zuko.

"Hey Sokka, it's Katara. Sokka immediately began his hysteric questioning. "Sokka listen! I'm fine, Kya's fine, we're both fine. Mai found us when our car skidded. We're now at Zuko's uncle's house…no, I don't know actually, maybe a taxi when the storm stops…I'll ring you tomorrow morning…tell Toph we're both sorry. Also, ring Jet, he's going to be ringing me and I don't have a phone. Tell him I'm at Toph's house and you're at your house…ok…thanks."

Katara pushed the end button and turned to see Kya sitting in between Mai and Zuko. Her eyes welled up; they looked like a family with Kya holding Mai's hand and her body leaned against Zuko's arm. A knock was heard on the door and Katara opened it to let the butler in. He was holding a tray which contained…Katara took a whiff…hot chocolate. He laid the tray down on the table and gave a steaming hot mug to Kya. As he turned, he winked at Katara, who smiled at him, and left. Katara walked towards the couch, feeling a little nervous. She didn't want to disturb the happy family despite feeling insanely jealous. Zuko would only have Kya for one night, Katara would have her forever. She hated being this possessive but seeing Kya in between the couple stirred up feelings she didn't want stirred up. Mai suddenly yawned, even her yawns sounded bored.

"Zuko, I'm going up to bed. Night Kya." Mai kissed Kya on the cheek while the girl hugged her. Katara tried to simmer the boiling rage she felt inside her. Zuko got up with Mai.

"Good night Mai." He leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. Mai jerked her head away. She turned to look at Katara,

"I had the guest room set up for you and Kya." She drawled. Katara smiled and shook her head.

"Oh no! It's fine, Kya and I will just take a taxi back." Zuko jerked his head away from the TV too look at Katara then at Mai.

"Oh no, I insist you stay the night. Breakfast is usually served at 8, but it's understandable if you want to sleep in."

"Oh, that's fine, I usually have to wake up at 8 30 so I can be at work by 9 30."

"I'll have the driver drop you off at work." Before Katara could protest, Mai left the room. Kya turned to Katara.

"Mummy, come and sit here!" She patted the seat Mai had just vacated. Katara got up and sat next to her daughter. Zuko looked across their daughter's head – his gaze locked on hers. Unbeknownst to both of them they were both suppressing a fiery passionate threatening to consume them.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Zuko was glad for the little girl sitting in between him and Katara. If Kya wasn't there, who knows what he would have done by now. Katara tore her eyes from Zuko and concentrated on the television. Seeing him again and being in such close proximity stirred up old feelings –feeling she thought she had forgotten she had. She was a little suspicious of Mai leaving the room, but if she claimed a headache, Katara knew how annoying those could be.

"So… what exactly are we watching?" Zuko broke the silence. He looked down at Kya who was looking at him aghast.

"You've never seen the Little Mermaid before?" Zuko shrugged. Katara threw him an evil smile – he was about to get the same lecture as Aang when Kya found out her bald uncle hadn't seen the film. Kya took the remote and pressed pause,

"Hey, how do you know how to do that?" Zuko exclaimed.

"I'm five, not stupid." She looked at him as if he were another species. Zuko felt the couch move and saw Katara laughing silently. Zuko tried to suppress a smile; he liked seeing Katara this way.

"Well Kya, thankfully you don't take after your mother. She blew up her microwave at university. She didn't know that you can't put aluminium in it." Kya looked at her mother,

"Mummy, everyone knows not put aluminium in the microwave." Kya said in a very matter-of-fact way.

"Oh yeah, how many times did I have to tell you so you would learn?" Katara smirked at the shame on Kya's face. "And something about our host. We went to university together and remember when mummy passed you by that village in the lower borough and showed you the houses she helped build? Well, Mr. AgniKai here was a volunteer and he couldn't hammer a nail to save his life, so he thought, why use one nail when you can use ten? Not only did he waste boxes and boxes of nails, but during the night when we were all gone, the house collapsed." Kya looked at Zuko and laughed.

"Haha! You can't hammer a nail? Every man I know can hammer a nail. Uncle Sokka and Uncle Aang built a whole shed together. Marta's dad built her a really nice bed. Shayne's daddy built her a Barbie house that takes up half her room."

"Well that's not practical is it? A Barbie house taking up most of the room." Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. He was the laughing stock of his former girlfriend and daughter!

"Can my daddy hammer a nail?" Kya looked up at Katara. Both her and Zuko froze. Katara fumbled a bit with her hands while Zuko watched closely, desperately wanting to hear her answer.

"Er… no he couldn't. But he had other qualities. He made sure we had enough money to build the houses for the poor in that village. He's really good with words so people important people trusted him and gave him a lot of money to help build those houses." Kya's eyes widened in admiration while Zuko was stunned at the kind words Katara had said. Perhaps she had said them for his benefit, but he didn't care.

"Wow!" Kya turned to Zuko, "Then you aren't the only man who can't hammer a nail. My daddy can't either." She smiled at him and Zuko couldn't help but smile back.

"Now, who's she?" Zuko pointed at Ursula who was currently dominating the entire frozen scene. Kya launched into her Little Mermaid synopsis – Katara remembered it from a show and tell Kya had to do in school. Poor Aang had asked an innocent question while they were on holiday in the summer and he was lectured for two hours on the Little Mermaid. Zuko didn't seem to mind though – he was listening to Kya intently, and nodding as she spoke.

While Kya was lecturing Zuko, Katara's mind drifted off. Zuko was really good with Kya and while Katara didn't want Zuko anywhere near her daughter, she had to accept the fact that he had come back into their lives. She was soon brought back to reality when she heard Kya calling her.

"Mummy, mummy, mummy…" She kept repeating, waving a hand in front of Katara's blank look. Zuko was looking at her with a funny look on his face.

"Kya," Katara warned her and Kya immediately fell silent. "What did you want?" Katara smoothed Kya's hair as her daughter spoke.

"Mummy, can we go tomorrow to the store and buy a swimsuit? This house has an indoor pool!" Katara remembered the indoor swimming pool and all the memories that came flooding back were like a blast from the past

_Flashback_

_"__Zuko!" A young Katara squealed as Zuko picked her up from the poolside lounging chair. Katara dropped her book as Zuko re-arranged her in his arms. "My book! It's going to get wet! Zuko!" She groaned as she saw the lovely crisp pages of her new book turn soggy from the wet floor. She kicked her legs in protest; Zuko raised an eye-brow._

_"__Really Katara, University doesn't start for another month! Enjoy your holidays!"_

_"__That wasn't for uni! That was for fun!" Zuko looked down at the fallen book,_

_"__How the French Revolution Started: A drought, a fallen King and a rebellion" He read the title. He looked into the eyes of his girlfriend and snorted, "You read that for fun?" Katara nodded, her wavy hair bouncing off her shoulders. Zuko's breath caught in his throat – she was so beautiful, her eyes so mesmerising and she chose to be with him. They had met at &county's Open University Week; they were both intending to go to the same university and since they had already met, they exchanged phone numbers. This wasn't on the tables – neither wanted to be in a relationship before going to University but fate always had a funny way of turning out. _

_Zuko looked at the brunette beauty in his arms and gave her an evil grin. Her eyes widened, knowing what he was going to do._

_"__Zuko don't!" She yelled, and before she could grab hold of his neck, Zuko had thrown her in the pool. She swam to the surface and pulled herself out of the pool to sit on the wall. Zuko was still laughing as he sat beside her._

_"__You're wet." He noted with a smile on his face._

_"__You're dead." She retorted, bunching her hair in her hands to release the excess water. "My hair…" She lamented her wavy locks as her hair slowly worked against her and started to frizz up._

_"__You're beautiful either way." Zuko pressed a quick kiss to her temple. Katara just glared at him. She scrambled up and turned to walk away from the pool; Zuko followed suit._

_"__Where are you going?"_

_"__To lie on the poolside chair and read my book." Katara snuck a glance and saw Zuko frowning as he stood by the edge of the pool. Katara smiled before turning,_

_"__I'm so-" Before Zuko could finish, Katara pushed him in the pool._

_"__Oh, payback's a bitch." She said and crossed her hands over her chest. Zuko pushed himself to the surface, sputtering. He glared at Katara as he pushed himself to where she was standing._

_"__We can't all be master waterbenders." He coughed up some water._

_"__Waterbender?"Katara asked._

_"__Yes, waterbender. I don't think anyone can do in the water what you do." He held a hand out and she took it to pull him out. She wasn't expecting a sharp tug pulling her into the pool with him. She held her close and smiled._

_"__And eye for an eye."_

_"__Mhm…" She nuzzled her nose with his and kissed him._

Katara looked over at Zuko after her little day dream was over – she was sure he was thinking of the same thing. His indoor pool was a mile-stone for them, that's where they first… practiced for the first time before having Kya. She blushed at the memory. Zuko saw her blush and raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile on his face. So he did remember.

Katara remembered meeting him for first time at the Open University fair.

_He was a sulky looking boy who didn't seem interested in anything. University representatives were trying to talk him into choosing their programme – he was after all an ex-Senator's son therefore very good publicity. He walked around sulking and growling at the representatives of each University but one. He wanted to study International Relations at a University his father didn't approve of because it wasn't in the prestigious group of universities, despite their excellent IR programme. Katara didn't notice him at the stall at first because she was too busy looking at the leaflets they had put out front. She was hoping to be scouted by a scout from here because their Human Rights programme was to die for. She was waiting for quite some time while the representative was walking to a Zuko (although, she didn't know who he was then). She looked at her watch and let out an exasperated sigh, this guy was taking too long. The representative saw her and noted her frustration,_

_"__I'll be with you in a bit." She smiled and turned back to the prospective student. Zuko looked at the representative with a cold stare,_

_"__Excuse me? I still have a lot more questions." The representative looked shocked – this 17 year-old spoke with a command in his voice she had never heard before._

_"__Maybe I can listen in? If you're talk about general stuff." Katara smiled at him. Zuko turned to her._

_"__Wait your turn…" He snapped but didn't finish his sentence as he was awe-struck by her beauty. She was wearing a blue trench coat which was open to reveal casual jeans and a white jumper. Katara narrowed her eyes at the rude boy and was about to snap back at him when she saw a scar covering most of the left side of his face. Zuko noticed her stare and for the first time since getting that scar he felt ashamed and twitched his arm in an attempt to somehow hide it but decided against it almost immediately – this was who he was and he wasn't going to hide who he was for the beautiful girl in front of him._

_"__There's no need to be rude. I can hear you talking about accommodation so I'd like to listen in. This way the representative won't have to repeat herself again." Katara had settled for an authorative tone rather than snapping at the boy. The boy in front of her was gorgeous, despite his marred looks. She tried not to stare at him, even though his beauty commanded it, and opted for looking at the representative while she talked._

_"__Now I understood you're 19, not 17 like the other students." She turned to Zuko who was nodding. "You can choose to live with mature students such as yourself who decided to take a few years off before going to university._

_"__I didn't take a few years off. I was in hospital for one year and in an institution for two. I even skipped a grade." His was angry and his raspy voice was trembling. The representative, looking scared, continued showing the pair the accommodation brochure, making sure to answer each question to the best of her abilities._

Katara smiled – the first meeting with Zuko didn't go so well, but the subsequent meetings until they found out about Kya were full of bliss. Kya was looking at her parents, head cocked, as she rotated her attention from mother to father and back again.

"Hello!" She sang stretching her hands out in front of her. Both adults shook their heads and focused their attention on the little girl in front of them. Katara looked at her watch and gasped.

"Kya, bed-time." Kya pouted.

"But muuuuuuum..." She protested but Katara held up her hand. Kya fell silent and grudgingly got up. "Fine, but I'm not happy about it." She pointed a finger at the adults and walked to the door. Both adults laughed before following her upstairs. At the top of the stairs Zuko took the lead, leading them to their room. He pointed to a door as they passed,

"This is where Mai and I sleep." He said. Katara nodded solemnly – she didn't want to think of them sleeping together in the same bed... the very same bed that she had shared with him on countless nights many years ago. Zuko led them into the guest bedroom which was one fo the biggest rooms Kya had ever seen.

"Wow! This is as big as Uncle Aang and Auntie Toph's room." Kya spied the large bed with the duvet on top. She ran and jumped up on the bed.

"Be careful!" Both adults shouted. Kya didn't take notice of them and continued jumping on the bed. They looked at their daughter and sighed. Katara walked over to her and grabbed her by the legs making her drop onto the soft bed.

"Take your shoes off, go get dressed and no more jumping!" Katara saw that Akido, the butler, had left another set of Zuko's old clothes, this time pyjamas. She picked them up and gave them to Kya. Kya grudgingly went into the bathroom to change but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the sheer size of the bathtub.

"Wow!" Zuko and Katara heard her say. They both smiled and Katara went to observe what Akido had left for her. She blushed and noted the usual sleeping attire she wore when she stayed over – Zuko's martial arts club t-shirt, which was massive on her lithe frame, and his looney tunes boxers. Zuko saw observe the clothes with a blush on her face – he couldn't help but smile. Akido had always loved Katara and was upset when she had stopped coming over. Zuko remembered the day he had left Katara he had come to see his Uncle Iroh and Akido had opened the door. The butler smiled and welcomed Zuko in, peering behind the young man with an expectant look on his face. Zuko had scowled at the man and told him in a brash voice that Katara wasn't to be coming around anymore. He remembered seeing the butler's expression change to sadness and deepened his scowl. The butler never asked why; he accepted the facts that he would never see the girl again. Zuko could only imagine how happy he must have been when he saw her in the garage, but as always, Akido served with the grace and professionalism of a butler his rank.

"If you need anything, I showed you my room." He gave a curt bow and left the room. He didn't trust himself to stay in the same room with Katara without Kya's supervision. He went to his room and shut the door behind him softly so he wouldn't wake Mai; but the girl was already awake and a thousand questions itched to get asked. But she composed herself in her unemotional and cold manner, completely opposite to the one she adopted for the cameras when she was with Zuko and turned on the light.

"Are you ok?" Zuko took off his shirt and clambered into bed next to her.

"I think so." Zuko sighed. They both sat in silence, leaning against the wooden bed-frame of their four-poster bed. Zuko tried to ignore his body screaming to be near Katara and Mai tried to push the many questions she had into the back of her mind. There would be time to answer the questions later, now Zuko's happiness was her main priority.

"If you want to talk..." She drawled. Zuko looked at her and smiled.

"Thanks." She turned off the light – no questions had to be asked, she knew exactly what Zuko was feeling. She felt Zuko sigh one more time before he positioned himself on his back – she would never understand how he could get a proper night's rest sleeping in that position.

"Night Mai."

"Night Zuko." Zuko fell asleep thinking of the brunette who plagued his dreams most night and the daughter she had kept from him. They hadn't spoken about Kya, but there was plenty of time now that he was back.

The next morning Katara woke up to an alarm clock ringing. She groaned; she was in more of a foul mood because her dreams were taunting her; she dreamt of a life she would never have with a man she could never have. She picked up the alarm clock and threw it against the wall, the sound of the device breaking making her smile in satisfaction. Kya opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the sun coming in through the curtain.

"Mummy, what is that?!" She moaned. Katara forgot that Zuko, like his whole family, was a morning person and he preferred curtain to shutters that blocked out the morning sun. Also, she guessed that the window faced east unlike the bedrooms back home where she made sure before purchasing the house that the windows faced west.

"Honey, that's the sun!" she leaned to face her daughter who put an arm over her eyes shielding it from the sun.

"Mummy turn it off!" Katara chuckled.

"I would if I could." Katara took the duvet and put it over both of them. She turned to face Kya, "Better?" Kya turned to give her a half smile.

"Much." Katara yawned and Kya followed suit. Katara heard the door open and threw the cover off in a panic.

"Rise and shine!" Zuko stood was holding two steaming mugs and closed the door behind him with his foot. In Katara's panic to see who the intruder was, she forgot Kya's aversion to the morning sun,

"MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMYYYYYY" Kya shrieked as she grabbed her pillow and put it over her face. Zuko looked at her with concern.

"Not a morning person either?" He noted and grinned at Katara who was trying to coax Kya from under the pillow. He placed the steaming mugs on Katara's bedside table and walked over the Kya's side. Katara sniffed the unmistakable aroma of expensive coffee which she could only afford to buy once a year. She took the mug and inhaled the fragrance of different spices mixed with the coffee. She blew on the mug and peered into the other mug on her table; hot chocolate with marshmallows. She turned to face Zuko, one eyebrow raised. He just shrugged as he knelt by Kya's side of the bed.

"Kya, Kya honey." He shook her a little bit. Kya remained silent. Zuko looked up to see Katara sitting on the bed, leaned against the bed-frame, slurping her hot coffee and watching him and Kya with interest. He would show her, all it took was a father's stern touch. He straightened up and pointed his finger at Kya. "Kya, get up now!" He said in a stern voice. Katara giggled as his expression changed from shock to confusion when Kya didn't respond. Katara took a gulp of her coffee, coughed as the now-warm liquid burned her throat and turned to face Zuko; without taking her eyes off Zuko, she removed the pillow from Kya's small hands – she was asleep! Zuko was aghast – and began poking her in the belly and on her sides. Kya gave a small grunt and opened her eyes groggily again.

"Not the sun again." She moaned. She closed her eyes swatted an invisible fly away from her. "Turn it off!" She felt around for her pillow, which Katara was holding.

"Get up, get up, get up, get up!" Katara chanted and continued to poke her daughter. Kya's whole body flinched with every poke. Zuko smiled – his daughter was too much like her mother. He decided to use another tactic when Katara's pokes proved futile.

"There's a whole breakfast table downstairs. Croissants, cold-cuts, fruit, cereal, milk, chocolate..." He listed. Kya opened one eye and looked at him.

"Are you making fun of me?" Zuko shook his head. Kya sighed dramatically as she got up. "I guess I'll come then." She flinched when her feet touched the cold floor so Zuko picked her up.

"You can brush your teeth, and then drink your hot chocolate, which should be drinkable now and then we'll go downstairs." Katara wanted to protest when Zuko took Kya to the bathroom but decided against it – Zuko was so good with their daughter, maybe...? Before the thought entered her mind, Katara drowned it out. She drank the last of her luke-warm coffee just as Zuko emerged with Kya from the bathroom.

"Your turn." He said to her and turned to pass Kya the mug with hot chocolate. "We'll wait."

Breakfast was a strange affair. Mai and Kya were talking throughout the whole meal; the little girl had perked up after her hot chocolate and once she saw the food on the table her spirits soared. Her plate was full of everything her little hands could grab hold of. Zuko looked at her,

"She's definitely Sokka's niece." Katara nodded and poured herself a third cup of coffee. She was trying to load up on as much coffee as she could before she left because it was so good.

Some time later Katara got up.

"I'll have to call a taxi – I have to drop Kya off at school and then I have to be at work." Mai looked at her and shook a hand.

"Nonsense. Zuko can spare the driver this morning." Zuko nodded quietly. Katara started to protest but Mai shot her a look – Katara remembered the girl's ability with knives and remained silent. She looked at Kya was finishing off pancakes that were prepared just for her with relish. She had hoped her little pig wouldn't want to meet up with Zuko and Mai again but something in the back of her mind told her Kya wasn't going to severe this acquaintance - not when there were freshly made pancakes oozing with chocolate and pure maple syrup at stake.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N

Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA (unfortunately)

Sidenote: I am sending out happy thoughts and best wishes to all those have reviewed my story so far, have favourite-'ed' either the story, or me as an author and who are following my story (whether you have 'subscribed' or not). Thank you so much for all the support – I update (almost) daily just for you guys – I would not have been able to without all this awesomeness you're sending my way.

Sidenote2: I finally previewed my story and saw that the breaks I put in place aren't there! ::gasp::! I am so sorry – it was meant to be a much easier read. I'll try and fix the problem with the subsequent chapters. Sorry, in advance, if I fail!

Cheers

**AuroraFireMadness**

Chapter 9

Katara wrapped the towel around herself and walked to her locker. She saw Orlenka and a group of girls from the team talking excitedly about something – although Katara really wanted to know what was happening, she kept to herself. A month wasn't enough to bring them back to how they used to be, as a team. One of the girls noticed Katara walk to her locker and whispered something to Orlenka. The tall girl turned around and smiled before walking towards Katara:

"Hey Kat."

"Hi Orly."

"Marta just go engaged," Katara smiled at a petite girl on the other side of the room.

"That's amazing!" She laughed. "Congratulations Marta!" She yelled across the room. Orlenka laughed,

"Well, we're going out to celebrate, and want you to come with us." Katara sighed. She had left Kya at Toph's today because Sophie couldn't babysit.

"Let me make one call and I'll tell you right away." Katara took out her mobile phone and punched in Toph's number. The girl on the other side of the phone was laughing at something:

"Hi sugar queen!" Katara rolled her eyes – Aang had put all these different ringtones on all of Toph's friends so she could distinguish the calls since she couldn't read the caller I.D. Katara was always embarrassed when she rang Toph because her ringtone was a song called Sugar Queen Sweetness – a song Toph and Sokka came up with one night when they had drunk a bit too much of the lethal "Cactus Juice" concoction.

"Hi Toph listen, I was wondering whether you could keep Kya tonight. I promise, I'll babysit for you whenever you want!" Katara heard Toph giggle.

"It's fine Sugar Queen, I'll keep an eye on Chibi Princess."

"Er..." Katara didn't know how to respond. "Toph?" She heard Toph and Kya burst into laughter over the phone and then promptly heard the phone go dead. Katara looked at her phone and sighed – at least Kya was having a nice time... she hoped. Katara looked up at Orlenka, "Tell me a time and place!" She smiled. Orlenka and the rest of the girls erupted in cheers. Katara couldn't stop smiling – they wanted her to go out with them. Maybe... just maybe... things between her and the team could go back to normal.

Katara was currently in a very good mood. The loud music, strobe lighting and good company had made her forget about Zuko and Kya and the whole problem she was going to have to face in telling Zuko that she decided to keep the baby. Perhaps the four cocktails she had also downed were also a major help. Orlenka shimmied over to her,

"I love your hair!" She yelled. Katara fingered her new hairstyle – she had left two strands loose from her ponytail and tucked them in a semi-circle under her head making some-kind of a hair loopy style. She was opting for something less...different, but as she looked closer in the mirror, she liked how it complimented her face. She added two Pandora beads - blue, she always wore blue - that her mother had left her before she died.

"Thanks!" She yelled back and smiled. Katara was sat between Orlenka and Asami, who were moving their bodies to the rhythm of the music. Both girls nudged Katara with their respective shoulders urging her to dance. Katara smiled at them – she hadn't been to a club in so long that she had probably forgotten how to dance. Asami looked at her and gave her an evil grin; before she knew, Katara was pulled by Asami and pushed by Orlenka on the dance floor. She heard the other girls catcall and clap. Asami and Orlenka immediately assumed their positions on the dance floor and started moving their bodies in a way Katara was sure hers never would. She watched them with awe as their bodies moved gracefully like a tranquil body of water. She was being egged on by the other girls to dance, and she thought that she had nothing to lose if she tried to mimic the two girls. They were in a club – most people were either grinding up against other people or drinking their worries away. Katara looked at Asami and Orlenka, studied their moves and swayed her hips. She received a catcall from her group of friends but she pushed the noise away. Her body felt warm, those cocktails were stronger than they looked, and the atmosphere in the room was buzzing. She joined Asami and Orlenka, who smiled and made space for her in their little semi-circle, and Katara started to dance. She drew strength from the moon's ability to pull the sea into submission; he hips rocked to the music like the tide in the sea. Asami and Orlenka's eyes widened – Katara's dance was mesmerising. Her eyes were shut as she moved her body to the music – her hands making intricate patterns in the air as she swayed them against the sea of people. Katara, and her two friends, caught the attention of a group of guys who were mesmerised with the way their bodies moved. They walked over and asked permission to dance. The three girls complied – even Katara who seemed to have forgotten all about Jet.

"You're beautiful." The guy Katara was dancing with put his hands on her hips and beckoned her closer – their bodies smashed together, their sweat rubbing against each other's hot skin. Katara and her partner were soon in sync, their bodies moving together as one. Orlenka and Asami smiled, their friend was finally forgetting her woes; however, as happy as they were about Katara finally being free, they kept an eye on the couple who had drawn the attention of almost everyone in the room, in case the guy got a little too frisky with her.

~*~Parallel to this ~*~

Zuko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Mai would owe him for this. She had forced him to come to a club with her, Ty Lee and Azula. He sat at the table while the three girls danced, nursing a beer. He felt a gust of wind as the door opened and looked up in anger; Azula had chosen to sit in the worst place! He noticed a group of girls come in. Two were dragging their friend who seemed to be protesting, but she finally stepped in and Zuko's eyes widened when he noticed who it was.

"Katara?" He whispered. The girls looked around for an empty table and sat down in direct view of him. He turned away a little bit so that Katara wouldn't notice him – although it was so dark in here that she probably could not see past the table in front of her. He noticed her interaction with the other girls – she was laughing and smiling at something the girl sitting next to her was saying. They opened their menus thus obstructing Zuko's view of Katara. When the waiter came over and everyone had put their menus down, Zuko noticed a small smile on Katara's face. When she ordered, the girls around her laughed and whooped. Zuko smiled – Katara looked so happy and so carefree... she was beautiful.

"Zuzu." Zuko's smile was replaced with a frown. His sister had come over to talk to him.

"What?" He asked, exasperated. Not only did she coerce him into coming, she was also going to force him into conversation.

"Dance with us!" Zuko shook his head. She only wanted to be seen on the dance floor with him so that she could make the other guys jealous. Azula sighed and tried to drag him on the dance floor.

"Go bother someone else." Zuko pulled his hand out of her grasp. Thankfully, fate took pity on him and someone came to ask Azula to dance. Zuko sent the guy the best of luck - dancing with Azula was a combination of trash and smuttiness. She was more of a touch-what-you-can kind of partner (thankfully Zuko never had that problem with her -they weren't those kinds of siblings, as sick and twisted as Azula was).

He turned his gaze back to Katara who was not sipping from a large cocktail glass. She was smiling and talking with the rest of the girls, sipping her drink every now and then. The night wore on, and Zuko continued to stare. He was already on his 4th beer and Katara had just ordered her third drink. He sighed and went to the bartender.

"You see that girl there?" The bartender saw where he was pointing and nodded. "I want you to water down her drink." The bartender looked at him funny. Zuko decided to pull the big guns. "Do you know who I am?" The bartender nodded. "Well, on my way over, I noticed three health violations. I can have the health department here first thing tomorrow morning to shut you down." The bartender's eyes grew wide.

"Fine, I'll water down her drink." He finally said. Zuko nodded and was about to leave. He felt bad for threatening the bartender so he took out two bills and gave them to the bartender.

"Water down every drink she orders." Zuko commanded. The bartender took the two bills, which would cover three week's rent, pocketed it and winked at Zuko, forgetting that the scarred man had threatened his bar just moments ago.

Zuko sat back in his seat and continued "Katara Watch" as he called it. He could see Katara already swaying from the too much alcohol. When she received her third drink, Zuko was glad he had watered it down because she had finished her drink in less than four gulps, and promptly ordered another one. Zuko sighed – she wasn't used to alcohol, she never was. He saw his three friends walking towards him. Ty Lee was saying something animatedly to Mai, who was silent as always and Azula walked beside them with a smile on her face. Zuko guessed that she had gotten that guy's number.

"Come on Zuzu, order us drinks." Azula commanded, sitting next to him. Her eyes widened when she saw who was sitting opposite them in the other corner.

"Ah." Mai said knowingly when she looked where Azula was staring.

"This is why you didn't want to dance?" Azula's voice was high and Zuko covered his good ear trying to block her out.

"No...I never dance." He told her. Ty Lee clambered over Mai to see what they were all talking about.

"oooo" She said. "That's Katara! She can dance!" Ty Lee's glaze was mesmerised by Katara's movements. Mai shifted to take a peek from under Ty Lee and her gaze was also transfixed on the dancing girl. Azula looked bored but she couldn't tear her gaze away from Katara either. Zuko turned to see what had them all transfixed and his breath caught in his throat... Katara, his Katara was dancing on the dance floor and she was... breathtaking. Her hands moved above her head in a delicate, circular motion; her body turned and twisted in ways he never knew it could. All eyes were on her – her white dress was striking against her mocha skin, and the sides flared up as she turned showing him her toned thighs. One guy asked her to dance and she accepted – Zuko felt anger rising up inside him. He felt Mai's hand on his clenched fist, she knew he would be angry but he had to stay put. Zuko continued staring at the couple who moved together in one fluid motion captivating the audience around them. He had his hands on Katara's hips, and as he moved her body to the music, she lowered her hands around his neck; her fingers clutched his hair he pulled her even closer. Zuko felt the anger flare up inside him while Mai's soft, cold hand continued to hold his clenched fist. Why was Katara letting other guys touch her like that – he should have watered down her first cocktail, alcohol and that girl were never the best of friends!

Azula shook her head and came of the trance which had everyone's gaze fixed on the couple. She turned to Zuko with a smirk,

"You sure her kid is yours?" Mai had to clutch down on Zuko's fist to stop it connecting with his sister's face. "Whatever." Azula drawled and got up. "I'm bored, take us home." Zuko cursed his sister and followed her out the door trying to forget he had ever seen Katara in the club dancing with some random guy.

Katara woke up the next morning in a worse mood than usual. Not only was she averse to waking up this early, but she had drank so much alcohol the night before giving her a raging hangover this morning. She groaned as her alarm clock beeped.

"Two more minutes." She grumbled to her alarm clock but the device continued to beep. She took the alarm and threw it against her door, silencing that damned piece of hellish equipment.

She finally got out of bed, ten minutes later and made her way groggily down the stairs. Thankfully Kya wasn't around – she wouldn't have to accommodate for her daughter's terrible morning mood - that was Toph's problem this morning. She poured herself some coffee which her timed filter machine had ready for her every morning and went to collect the paper. She sat her kitchen table, sipped her coffee, enjoying the feeling of the first sip of caffeine in the morning running through her veins and opened the newspaper to read it. The headline made her jump forward.

POLITICAL ACTIVIST, JET HARPER, PROTESTS AGAINST GOVERNMENT'S NEW LEGISLATION.

Katara slapped her forehead, immediately regretting it as it just fed her morning hangover. Jet! She had forgotten all about him last night when she was dancing with that guy. Katara felt her body go limp – she would have to tell him... but she didn't want to lose him... conflicting thoughts went through her head when her phone rang. Katara immediately cringed and massaged her throbbing forehead as she walked over the answer the call.

"Hello." The chirpy voice on the side of the line made her cuss in anger.

"Language Sugar Queen. Listen, I just brought Kya to school. Her teachers were really confused to see her on time." Katara groaned. "Ok ok, I get it. My God, you and your daughter are too alike. I had to bribe her to get out of bed this morning."

"Get to the point of the phone call Toph." Katara sighed.

"Ok Ms Bossy Britches! Kya's teacher wanted me to tell you that there's a parent-teacher's meeting this week on Friday." Katara walked up to the fridge calendar and wrote it down.

"Thanks." Katara yawned and ended the call. Her phone rang again and she yelled in frustration.

"What do you want Toph?!" She yelled a bit too loudly.

"Hey, it's me." Jet's calm voice on the other side of the line made her cringe. She had to tell him about last night.

"Sorry."

"No problem. Hey, want to meet up for lunch today?"

"Sure, but we'll have to meet up at the pool's cafeteria. I only have an hour for lunch." They chatted for a bit more and then hung up. Katara gulped her coffee and poured herself another one. This was the first time she had ever dreaded lunch.

Lunch-time came far too quickly and Katara walked into the cafeteria with dread. She saw Jet wave at her with a grin – he had saved them a table. Before sitting down she gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Hey sweetie, how are you?"

"I'm good, you?"

"Starving. What do you want? I'll go order and come back."

"I'll just have a ceasar salad, dressing on the side, I can't eat much." Jet nodded,

"You can't swim on a full stomach." He noted. Katara nodded but didn't tell him the other reason for not being able to eat anything else was that her stomach was still churning from last night's drinking.

Jet returned with a tray. The smell of his burger reached Katara and it took all of her strength not to vomit. He sat down opposite her and passed her a plastic fork. He saw her uneasy expression.

"What's bothering you?" Katara opened her salad and picked at it with her fork. Meanwhile, Jet was devouring his burger not once taking his gaze off of her. Katara looked up at him and took a deep breath before divulging last night's indecency.

"And I'm so sorry! I had drunk four massive cocktails, the girls will show you photos they were HUGE and STRONG!" She emphasized as she finished off her story with an apology. "I would NEVER do that to you and I really want us to stay together." Katara stared into his eyes and was not expecting the booming laugh Jet let out. She looked confused.

"That's what was bothering you?" He took a sip of his coke, "Did you sleep with him?" Katara looked shocked.

"No!"

"Did you kiss him?" Katara shook her head. "Did you give him your number?"

"No. I mean... he gave me his but I threw it away after we left." Jet took another sip of coke and bit into his burger.

"Then that's fine." He smiled at her, mouth full of chewed up burger and Katara sighed in relief. While the sight of chewed up meat made her stomach churn, she was glad Jet hadn't been angry. They finished their lunch talking about why Jet was in the papers again and made plans for the evening. By the time Katara went back to coaching she was in a really good mood.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Katara was talking with her team after practice was over and noticed the publicist coming over. She sighed and contemplated walking away from him but when she saw Zuko following him she decided stay.

"Katara, _Zuko_ here has just given very large donation in support of the team's efforts."

"Good for him." Katara drawled. She picked up her whistle and blew; Zuko and the publicist covered their ears from the shrill sound. Katara looked at them and grinned – both men were equally annoying and she didn't want to have to deal with them.

"Listen up team," She shouted as the team gathered up around her, "Next week we have our first nationals. We have to make &county proud! Now, Saturday and Sunday I will put in three hours of extra practice," at this the team groaned but Katara just pursued her lips and continued talking, "I want you all to be on time and I want you to bring you a-game. Nationals are a way of showing the country who is the best, and we are the best!" The team cheered and Zuko felt a surge of pride for Katara's little speech. "Ok guys, hit the shower." She picked up a towel and saw that the publicist was talking a small camera crew about Zuko and his support for the diving team. Katara grinned and wiped her face with the towel; Zuko was just trying to hide his flushed face as he heard the publicist tell the cameras about Zuko being their number one fan.

"So, when are you going to tell him you know nothing about diving?" Katara asked him as she wrapped the towel around her. Zuko shrugged. The publicist finished speaking to the cameras and walked back over to them.

"Mr. AgniKai, I would like to give you a present on behalf of the whole team." Katara stifled a giggle and Zuko shot a glare at her. He was suspicious of the present already. The publicist took out a folder and gave it to Zuko, "Because of your interest in our team and your enthusiasm with diving, I wanted to give you season passes to all National swim-meats. Zuko paled. He would actually have to go to these things now? He saw Katara holding a hand in front of her mouth, trying her hardest not to laugh; her shaking body betrayed her.

"Oh…um…." Zuko took the folder, "er… thanks?" He said, not knowing what else to say. The publicist beamed with happiness.

"It was Katara's idea." Katara's turned sharply to glare at the publicist. Zuko grinned, so it was her fault! He would make her pay. He noticed that the ex-diver, now coach, stopped laughing.

"Oh, um… well I did say that he would have a lot of work and probably not get to come to many of the swim-meets." He told he publicist. Zuko realized she was giving him an out and before he could agree the publicist spoke:

"But the seats are amazing. They're front row seats, next to you." Hold on, next to Katara. Zuko looked at the folder in his hands; perhaps he would have to re-think not coming to these meets.

"Of course I'll be there!" He smiled brightly at the publicist, who looked way too happy, and then at Katara who looked like she had just swallowed a live bug. She mouthed something to him and stormed off toward the changing room. Zuko grinned; he knew she thought he was a bastard.

"So…" The publicist looked at Zuko awkwardly.

"Bye." Zuko waved and walked quickly toward the entrance.

* * *

That afternoon, Zuko was walking past a bookstore, his uncle was coming back home and he had to pick up some tea leaves as per his request. He passed the large windows of the bookstore when he double backed; a certain blue eyed, tanned, brunette beauty had caught his eye. She was leafing through a best-seller book – Zuko pressed his nose to the glass to catch a glimpse of the book, and when he did, he grinned. He pushed open the door of the store and walked in – he didn't much like bookstores, Katara was always the reader in their relationship. Katara was in the book store perusing a new collection of best sellers - she had heard her athletes talk about a new book that had come out, "Fifty Shades of Gray" and decided to check it out. As she was reading the blurb she felt a familiar presence behind her.

"Hello Zuko." She sighed and put the book back on the shelf. She turned around see Zuko grinning at her – one of his genuine grins, not his spiteful one.

"Azula read that book. Let's just say that she has a new way of exerting control over her boyfriends in a way that gives them the pleasure they seek,

"I think the BDSM lifestyle will suit Azula perfectly." Zuko shrugged.

"Meh, I'm more of a take-my-girlfriend-on-the-pool-table-in-the-heat-of-the-moment kind of guy." He flashed her another grin, this one mischievous and teasing. Katara blushed.

"Well, I'm sure you and Mai will have lots of pool tables in the house." Katara brushed past him to leave but he grabbed her wrist. She looked back at him, "let me go" she growled through gritted teeth. Zuko took a step closer until he was just a hear-breadth away from her and leaned down to whisper in her ear,

"It's not Mai I want to see on that pool table. I like my girls with darker skin, electric blue eyes, curves in all the right places and a passion to match my own." Katara's pulse was reaching critical condition with him being so close to her. As he whispered into her ear, his hand had let go of her wrist and traced the curve of her hips all the way to her ass. Katara refrained from shivering with his touch – he could still light her fire with just one touch. She wasn't going to let him see, or feel, (because at this point she was sure he could hear her heart beating and feel the heat emanating from her) and stood on her toes to whisper in his good ear.

"Well that's a pity cause I heard that that girl is singing a different tune with someone else. Gone are the pool-tables, he's found… better ways to please her." She made her voice extra throaty and extra breathy. She was so close that she could feel his body reacting to her. She looked down and then up at his face, one eye brow raised. She humph-ed in triumph and walked away leaving Zuko to wonder whom she was referring to.

* * *

As Zuko drove home with his uncle's tea, he was still musing over what Katara had said to him in the bookstore. Whom did she mean? All he could do was just watch her leave; her presence had caused quite a stir in him which left him immobile for a few minutes. When he could finally move again, he walked to the teashop next to the bookstore and wordlessly gave over the list to an over-enthusiastic salesman. Zuko was in a foul mood after his encounter with Katara and he knew, just by looking at the salesman, that if he were to talk, the poor man would feel the full brunt of his cutting mood.

The salesperson finally rang up the bill, and Zuko gave him exact change as he wanted to leave as soon as possible and escape the salesperson infuriating good mood. Driving back, Zuko tried to lift his spirits by convincing himself that Katara was just teasing and that there was no one in her life. Slightly in a better mood, Zuko parked his car and noticed his uncle's driver opening the back door. Zuko grabbed the plastic bag containing his uncle's tea and went to meet him.

"Uncle!" He said and he hugged the robust man who had just excited the car. The man smiled at his nephew,

"Nephew! Hello!" And hugged him back. Zuko caught his uncle sniffing him,

"Er…uncle?" He leaned back to see the older man sniffing his coat, eyes closed and a smile on his face.

"Is that ginger liquorice I smell on you nephew and," Here the man took another whiff of his nephew's clothes, "…pomegranate oolong?" Zuko smiled at his uncle who had a look of blissful ecstasy on his face.

"Yes uncle." Zuko waved the bag containing the tea leaves in front of him. His uncle turned to look at the driver.

"Make sure my suitcases go to my room. The kitchen staff should have a hot plate delivered to my room and make sure you set up my tea area just like I showed you." The driver nodded at the older man as he opened the car boot. Zuko watched as his uncle took a small suitcase from the backseat of the car and proceeded to following him to the door. Akido opened the door from the inside, hearing the muffled voices and gave a curt bow of respect to the older gentleman,

"Your Honour." He said. The robust gentleman shuffled past him, and smiled as he took the first glimpse of his home this year – work had kept him busy in the Financial County of The Country and he hadn't been home in a year.

"Akido, you have kept her in good shape." The owner of the house noted the pristine condition in which the house was in. Nothing was out of place and all the knick knacks that the old man collected over the years were polished and put behind a glass cage.

"Your nephew runs a tight ship, Your Honour." The tall butler stood next to his short master and gave him a knowing grin. The shorter man turned to his nephew and smiled. "Home sweet home." He mused.

"Would Your Honour like anything brought to the living room?" The butler smiled at his master,

"Just some boiling water please." The butler nodded and went to the kitchen to carry out his orders. Zuko followed his uncle to the living room and sat down opposite him.

"Where is Mai?"

"She should be coming home in a bit. She's off doing some charity work." Zuko's uncle nodded.

"She will become a fine Senator's wife."

"I haven't become a Senator yet." Zuko reminded him.

"Nonsense, I've read the polls, you are ahead of the other candidates."

"Just barely." Zuko noticed his uncle looking at him as if expecting him to say something.

"Well?" Zuko looked confused. His uncle rubbed his nose and sighed; he linked his fingers together, placed them on his rotund belly and leaned back, staring at his nephew the whole time. When he realized that his nephew wasn't going to say anything, he spoke: "What about my great niece? Kya, I believe her name is." Zuko looked at him.

"Mai told you." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. She's a lovely girl and as I've said before, she'll make an amazing Senator's wife…now I do not know if she will make a perfect wife for you."

"Uncle," Zuko sighed and rubbed his nose with his palm, "I've told you, until Mai tells me otherwise, this is what we're going to do. She has been a great friend to me and I will not let her down." Iroh looked at his nephew, his gaze staring at the scarred boy in front of him intently.

"And what about Katara?" He asked, slightly leaning forward to better gauge his nephew's reaction. He saw a fleeting look of confliction pass over his nephews face – it was all he has to see to prove to him that his nephew was still not over Katara.

"She'll never take me back." The man stared at him with a curious look on his face.

"You never did tell me why you broke up." His gaze was piercing; Zuko looked away and stared blankly at the table in front of him.

"Let's just say… I wouldn't take me back." He said. The door to the living room opened and Akido came in with a boiling pot of water. Iroh smiled and opened the small suitcase he had brought with him. He took out an old teapot, that Zuko remembered from his childhood years, and two antique teacups in perfect condition. He also took out a silk puch that contained tea leaves. Zuko watched as his uncle brewed a perfect tea and inhaled the sweet fragrance emanating from the cup his uncle handed him.

"Drink. We shall talk about something else now however tonight, when you take me to this new teashop that opened, we shall talk about Katara." Zuko dreaded tonight, but he held his steaming teacup up to his lips and sipped – his uncle was a master at making tea. Soon, uncle and nephew were talking politics and the subject of a certain blue eyed girl was pushed to the back of their minds reminding both of them that it was to be re-opened come nightfall.

* * *

Katara opened the door for Jet and beckoned him to come in.

"Hold on." She told him. She disappeared into a room where he could hear her battling with a laundry machine. "Work you stupid piece of junk!" He heard her yell and then kick the machine. He smiled and followed her into the laundry room to see a pile of dirty clothes all over the floor, a humming dryer and a washing machine whose door was hanging off its hinges.

"Need help?" Katara looked at him and he saw the panic in her eyes.

"I don't know what you can do! This piece of junk won't start and I think I made matters worse by kicking the door." She sheepishly turned to the laundry machine and teased the creaking door with her foot. It swung for a bit before it finally snapped rendering the washing machine utterly useless. "Oh no! I can't afford another one, I'm still paying this one off!" She sunk to the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them fiercely.

"Come on honey, it can't be that bad. Listen, you can do laundry at my place until the sales come out." She looked up at him; she so desperately wanted to cry at the broken machine, but she didn't. She understood that Jet had suggested this purely for her benefit but she had once made a solemn vow to never be dependent on anyone. She nodded at him but deep down she knew that she would never take him up on the offer and that until the sales came out, where she would have to dip into her already meager savings to buy the machine, she would use the Laundromat across the street. Jet got up and extended a hand to her,

"Come on, I'll make us some coffee." He said as he heaved her up a standing position. She followed him into the kitchen where it looked like a bomb had gone off.

"Kya and I were baking." She grinned at his shocked expression. Jet walked over to the coffee machine and measured out the correct amount of coffee beans to put in while Katara placed two mugs on the small clean part of the kitchen table. He noted that the mugs were a "Kya Original" design; Katara liked decorating the house in mismatching pottery decorations her daughter made. He sat down at the kitchen table waiting for the coffee to be made as Katara loaded the dishwasher up.

"How was your day?" He asked when she had finally sat down. Katara contemplated tell him about Zuko; it wasn't as if he had never asked about Kya's father before. He poured the coffee into the two mugs and waited for her to reply.

"I saw Kya's dad today." She said. Her eyes never left his face – she studied his reaction. He seemed to be calm, but she noted that his hand shook a bit.

"Wasn't…" His voice came out a bit high so he coughed and tried again. "Wasn't he in France?" Katara nodded. All she had told him was he had abandoned her when he found out she was pregnant.

"He came back." Jet was silent; she saw this as a means of prompting her to say more. It was time to tell him the whole truth - she was pretty serious about Jet so telling him was just another step in their relationship that she was bound to take at some point. "I never really told you the whole story." She sighed before launching into the story that broke her heart six years ago.

_Katara stared at the white pregnancy test in her hand. She could hear Zuko in his room walking up and down as he recited the ten laws of the Criminal System. That's what she was meant to be doing as well, studying her stuff, but instead she was stuck in the bathroom hoping that the pregnancy test would not show a little positive sign. She crossed both her fingers, and her toes for good measure and waited. Her heart was beating so fast that she was sure she was going to die from an aneurism. The two minutes passed and she peeked at the pregnancy test – it was positive. She sat down on the rim of the huge bathtub and hung her head in her hands sobbing in despair. A few minutes later, she wiped the tears away and went to the sink to freshen up. She exited the bathroom and saw Zuko still trying to memorise the Criminal System Laws. She tried not to give anything away – she would have to decide first what she wanted to do. Before leaving the bathroom, she had placed the pregnancy test, and the box, under a lot of tissues, hoping that Zuko wouldn't go rummaging in the trash for some weird reason. She made her excuses to a confused Zuko and left in a hurry._

_A few days later, when she returned to Zuko's house already having made her decision about the baby inside of her, the door opened and instead of greeting Akido, she was greating the ex-Senator Ozai himself. Katara double backed but the man invited her inside; she was wary of being alone with him since his smile was less than pleasant. Ozai invited her into the formal living room, a place which she had never been in before, and sat down opposite him._

_"__Ms. Katara, I believe you came to see Zuko."_

_"__Yes sir."_

_"__As you know, I don't agree with you being Zuko's girlfriend; your parents have no status in society. You're not even from &county." Katara felt a sharp sting from his bluntness but she tried not to show it. She knew Ozai's personality as a fierce man who always got his way – one way or another. _

_"__I know that sir. So why did you invite me here?"Ozai gave her a cold smile at her boldness but truth be told, Katara's whole body was shaking from fear._

_"__What are you studying?"_

_"__I changed my major sir; I was studying Human Rights but I changed to pre-Med."_

_"__And what do you want to do in the future?"_

_"__I want to join Doctors Without Borders."_

_"__So you don't want anything getting in the way of your plans." Katara was starting to get suspicious of the conversation. _

_"__No." She said._

_"__Good." Ozai smiled at her with a cold stare in his eyes; his teeth seemed to twinkle from the light in the room. "You will listen to me very carefully. You will destroy that thing growing inside of you or I will make sure you and Zuko will be raising the child in the ghetto of the lower borough – and believe me, if you think the lower borough is the worst of the worst, you have not seen the ghetto." Katara was shocked and her hand instinctively went to her belly to protect her child. _

_"__Destroy? What kind of a man are you?" She whispered._

_"__A man who plans to see his son Senator some day. You will ruin him with this child."Katara got up._

_"__You will not decide what is best for me and Zuko."_

_"__On the contrary my dear," he sneered, "I control Zuko. He is my son and if he knows what's best for me, he will listen to me."_

_"__Good bye sir." Katara got up to leave but Ozai held her back_

_"__I will pay all expenses, don't worry. I know your father, the soldier, doesn't make much and as much as I dislike you, a back-alley abortion should not be your only option." His smile taunted her and Katara yanked her wrist out of his firm grip. On her way out she slammed the door – the only satisfying thing she could have done._

_Zuko found her that night in her studio, crying._

_"__Katara, what's wrong?" He kneeled in front of her and looked up to see the free-flowing cascade of tears down her cheeks. He wiped them away with his thumbs, but more just came flowing down. Katara looked into his concerned gaze and smiled – his eyes were a source of comfort to her._

_"__I have something to tell you." Zuko took her hands into his and sat next to her on the couch._

_"__You can tell me anything." _

_"__I'm pregnant." Katara decided to just say it. She felt his grip get tighter and winced in pain. Zuko looked at her, his concern gone; his eyes were full of worry. _

_"__Well…" He got up. "we can… we can go to one of the best clinics." Katara's heart sank. That the decision she had come to until she had spoken with Ozai._

_"__I want to keep it."_

_"__It's fine Katara, I'll pay for it." Zuko looked at her, urging her to take his offer._

_ "__Zuko I want to keep it!" She yelled. Zuko stopped dead in his tracks. His gaze turned cold._

_"__How can you be this selfish? We both have dreams, goals, ambitions! How are we going to achieve them with a baby in the way?" His raspy voice was strained as he yelled at Katara._

_"__Why do you and father think that having a baby is going to ruing everything?"_

_"__My father?" _

_"__Yes! He told me to abort it."_

_"__See, I'm not the only one who thinks it's a good idea."_

_"__ZUKO! You want to be on the same page as your FATHER?" They were both standing across from each other, yelling._

_"__It's my decision too!"_

_"__It's my body!" _

_"__You know what, do whatever you want. It's probably not even mine." The minute Zuko had said those words, Katara's face flushed with fury. _

_"__Get out." Her voice was dangerously low. Zuko took a step forward but then thought about the furious girl in front of him. In the heat of the moment he had said something he didn't actually mean; Katara would understand that though and forgive him sooner or later. _

_"__When you come to your right senses come and see me." He said._

_"__My right senses tell me to never speak to you again. I'll have the abortion but only because I don't want anything reminding me of you or your family." Zuko opened the door and left. Katara would come back, she had to._

Zuko finished telling the story to his uncle who was sitting next to Mai in the new teashop that had just opened, 'The Jasmine Dragon'. Mai had been told the story before, but it didn't stop her from wincing at the ending again. Iroh was looking at his nephew; his eyes were somber and he was frowning.

"Nephew, you need to talk to her."

"I know uncle!" Mai heard the door open and looked to see the customer which had just walked in; she smiled.

"Now's your chance." She said and took a sip of her tea. Zuko whipped his head to look at the door behind him; he saw Katara helping Kya out of her coat and scarf and giving it to a green-eyed man next to her. She looked at him the way she used to look at him when they first started dating – but there was something different. Her eyes were sad, despite her laughing at something Kya said, and the man next to her was holding her protectively – he felt her pain – she had just shared her pain with the man next to her; Zuko knew this because she had the same look in her eyes he did when he told her the story about his scar and Jet was holding her the same way she was holding him.

Their eyes locked at opposite ends of the room; she had talked about him and how he treated her six years ago. He dropped his gaze in shame and turned back to Iroh and Mai. As fate would have it, the waitress seated the party of three next to Zuko's table. Mai ordered another pot of tea, claiming thirst; Zuko and Katara had to talk and with her and Iroh there with them, it could not go wrong.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Thankfully the meeting at the Jasmine Dragon went really well. Kya, recognizing Zuko and Mai jumped up to hug them immediately. Katara made the introductions quickly to Jet and went to hug Iroh – the man was like family to her. Iroh and Mai insisted on joining the tables together before sitting down. Mai went to sit close to Zuko and Kya so Jet could sit next to Katara who was sitting next to Iroh.

"Hello!" Kya noticed the older man sitting next to her mother. Her toothy grin was enough to get him out of his chair and hug her. Kya looked at her mother with a confused expression as the man lifted her up in a hug.

"I'm called Iroh, but you can call me uncle!" Zuko looked at Katara who didn't seem fazed. After all, he had insisted she call him uncle too, but she settled for either Iroh, or sir.

"Kya this man is a judge. Remember when we were passing that BIG building when we were trying to find your friend's house? We saw those men and women dressed in black and white and had funny wigs on and I told you they were judges, and I explained that they sought justice which means…"

"Using the law to…to…er…make sure people are judged fairly and to punish criminals and crime." Kya said; everyone around the table was surprised – she was far more intelligent than most kids her age. Katara looked smug at the look of awe on people's faces whenever Kya expressed more intelligence than what was usual – of course she would be really smart, she had Zuko's genes, and Katara's vain part of her brain also insisted that her genes also helped.

"You are very smart for a girl your age." Iroh noted, impressed by his great-niece's aptitude.

"Mummy says it's annoying." Everyone turned to Katara.

"Hey! She's constantly asking questions… you try answering why cows are black and white, or why trees grow in different shapes, or why certain houses have different coloured bricks!" Katara told them. Jet grinned and squeezed her hand.

"Come on babe, you can answer those questions. You're like… super smart."

"Thank you, but no I can't answer them and she keeps insisting on knowing the answer. It drives my brother crazy." Zuko noticed the affectionate look she was giving Jet, and he felt a surge of jealousy. "I made her go camping with Aang, so he could explain all those science-y stuff about moons and stars and wind and rain…"

"I like camping with uncle Aang!" Iroh chuckled at the little girl and went to sit back in his seat.

The waitress brought over the tea and Kya was immediately spoiled by Zuko, Mai and Iroh; they ordered everything she wanted and insisted on paying at the end. Katara noticed Jet shooting Zuko cold glances every now and then – she was sure Zuko noticed as well, but he didn't say anything.

* * *

"Katara!" Sokka hugged his sister with gusto as soon as she opened the door. Katara looked at Suki who was standing behind him, arms up and an I-don't-know-what-the-hell-he's-doing expression on her face. She invited her brother's family in and led them into the living room; she was proud that she was able to tidy it up after Kya and Sophia had made a mess last night. Toph and Aang were already sitting on her couch trying to rock their fussing baby to sleep.

"What am I doing wrong?" Aang turned to Toph.

"I don't know. Has he pooped his pants?" Aang took a sniff and shook his head.

"Nope."

"We fed him, right?"

"Yup!" Katara smiled and walked over with her hands stretched out.

"Gimme." She picked up the crying baby and rocked him against her body, singing a calming lullaby in a soft voice. The adults all stared at her as she placed the sleeping baby in the push chair. Now that he was asleep, nothing could wake him up.

"You are the baby-whisperer." Sokka whispered in awe. Katara laughed. She told Kya to take her cousins upstairs to her room and play if they wanted so up they went except for Ikem who went to the kitchen to play with his game boy. Suki's belly was growing larger and Katara marveled at how her small frame was able to accommodate the extra weight.

"You sure you're not having twins?" She asked her sister-in-law who just laughed.

"Katara, you have to tell us what happened with Zuko. Quickly, before Jet comes."

"Jet knows about Zuko, Sokka." Sokka looked at her, mouth opened too wide for propriety's sake.

"You told him?" Toph asked. "Sugar Queen, can you trust him?"

"Yeah Toph, I can." Toph pursed her lips and didn't say anything further; Katara noted that, since Toph always had something to say but she kept quiet.

Katara told them everything that happened at the Jasmine Dragon; at some point Jet had come and added his own two cents about Zuko and Iroh.

"What kind of a guy does that to his girlfriend?" He said and squeezed Katara closer to him.

"The way he treated Katara was terrible," Suki agreed, "but you left like two month later."

"Well, I had to. I had just completed my first year at University, and my last. Money was running out so I had to move to the lower borough."

"You lived in the lower borough?" Jet asked.

"Yes, she did. She was too proud to ask any of us for help." Aang chimed in.

"Hey, I told you I wanted you at Kya's birth, didn't I?"

"Katara, you didn't tell us you were pregnant until you started to show at 5 months. We all thought you were just getting fat." Sokka said to her and then turned to Jet, "She made us believe she was still in school and on the diving team until she finally told us the truth. She even used her scuba breathing to keep her heart-rate normal so that she could confuse Toph!" At this Toph tsk-ed and folded her arms.

"I knew something was up!" She leaned back into the soft pillows of the couch.

"Wow, you must have been through a lot." Jet put his chin on top of her head and hugged her close to him.

"Well, she was an assistant coach until they realized she was a better coach than the other dude. She got the job. Yes, my sister is awesome ladies and gentlemen." Suki laughed and slapped her husband's arm.

"Katara was amazing! She lived in this teeny, tiny apartment which she got for half the price if she agreed to look after the tenant's kids at night while the tenant was at work. Then, two years later, with all the money she saved up she put a down payment on this house and all the furniture you see in it." Suki beamed at Katara.

"Well, I scrimped and saved, but I always provided Kya with whatever she needed. Thank God I got the job as coach 'cause my pay is great!" she snuggled closer to Jet.

"So what about Iroh, what did you talk about with him?" Sokka asked.

"Oh nothing. He's been in Financial County for the last year or so. I mean, his nephew was in France so he didn't want to be alone in that huge house."

"Oh yeah, he was presiding over that huge corruption scandal." Sokka rubbed his chin.

"Did he tell you anything about it?" Sokka leaned forward hoping that Katara would provide a some gossip.

"No Sokka, he didn't tell me anything." Sokka leaned back in his chair and frowned.

"Why was Zuko in France?" Jet asked.

"He transferred after his first year – his father wanted him to go to France because of the prestige. After he graduated, he worked under the Ambassador to France for a year until coming back."

"Is that where he met Mai?"

"Oh no, he's known Mai since they were kids. She's his sister's best friend."

"That crazy one?"

"Azula's not crazy, she's different." Her friends snorted at her comment.

"Oh, she's whacked." Sokka put it bluntly.

"Sokka!" Suki scolded.

"What? I swear, that girl is all kinds of crazy! You know it! She came into the office, remember? You were there! She came into the office and started threatening all the officers!" Sokka shuddered at the memory. "Just cause her dad was Senator for three terms does not make her Princess of &county!"

"Anyway," Katara shot her brother a glare, "They got together in France while they were both at the same university."

"Oh." Jet mused over all the new information he was given and remained silent.

During dinner, Katara noticed that Toph was silent, which was unusual because she and Sokka usually dominated the conversation at the table. Aang had also noticed, so he took her place in the friendly banter with Sokka. Katara made a mental note to ask Toph the next time they were alone.

Katara chucked them out at midnight because she had her usual Saturday morning swimming practice with Kya and extra practice with the diving team. As she put Kya to sleep she heard her daughter sigh.

"What's wrong honey?"

"Mummy, can we invite Mai, Zuko and uncle Iroh next time? Then we can have everyone I love under one roof." Katara frowned at her daughter's suggestion.

"Honey, remember what I said about inviting people over? The people we invite other have to be friends with each other."

"But Zuko and Mai said that they know Auntie Toph!" She whined.

"Ok Kya, go to sleep and we'll talk about it tomorrow morning." She caressed her daughter's forehead and gave her a kiss before closing the light and tiptoeing to her room.

* * *

Katara wasn't surprised to see Zuko come in with the rest of the team the next day. He walked up to her and gave her a paper cup with coffee in it.

"Courtesy of Akido." He said. Katara took off the plastic lid and smiled as she inhaled the fragrance; she closed her eyes and savoured the first taste. Zuko clenched his fist at Katara's sensual way of drinking her coffee and opted to sit at the bleachers before he would do anything that would compromise his dignity. At the bleachers, he found Kya clad in a towel-robe.

"Hello." He said and sat next to her. She gave him a big smile.

"Hi! How come you're here?" She asked.

"Well, since I sponsor the team, I get told when they have practice in case I want to come and watch." He explained. Kya made an 'O' shape with her mouth, but didn't say anything.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Mummy brings me every Saturday early morning to teach me how to swim."

"You both wake up every Saturday, early in the morning?" Zuko raised an eyebrow at her. "Somehow, I find that hard to believe." Kya laughed.

"Only on Saturdays. I like swimming and we get a free pool if we come really early, once it opens!" She explained enthusiastically.

While Katara was trying to get her team in order, she noticed Zuko and Kya in deep conversation. She tried to shake their blossoming relationship out of her mind and tried to focus on her nerve-riddled, agitated-infested team.

"Alright team!" She barked, and they all looked up at her. "First of all, I don't want you to be nervous. You get nervous, your muscles clam up and that's how you get a cramp! Second, when you're nervous, you make mistakes! You are too good to be making mistakes. Third, after practice you will NOT go to the gym, you will go home and drink tea, and sleep! Fourthly, you will listen to me today. You will do what I tell you, when I tell you. Understand?" The team muttered back and followed Katara to the swimming pool. "A few laps to warm up." She instructed. She saw how nervous they were so she jumped into a free lane next to Asami who was so pale she looked like a ghost. "I will be practicing with you today. This way you can compare your impeccable skills against my meager ones and thus feel better about yourselves." Her joke earned a weary smile from most of her athletes.

Practice went ok. It wasn't the best practice they had, but not the worst either. The team was too nervous and Katara understood that there was a lot at stake. She noticed Zuko and Kya still in conversation, looking up to admire Katara's dives every now and then. She went up to the bleachers where Zuko and Kya sat:

"Honey," Two pairs of golden eyes looked up at her. Katara decided to ignore Zuko and look at Kya. "Listen, mummy has to go into the locker room to talk to the team. Say goodbye to Zuko."

"But mummy, I want to stay here! I want to swim for a bit more."

"I am not going to let you swim unsupervised, nor am I going to let you unsupervised near the pool." Katara's tone was strict.

"I'll look after her." Zuko said. Katara sighed.

"Thanks Zuko but…"

"…Please mummy!" Kya clapped her hands together, begging her mother to let her stay.

"Shallow end of the pool only!" She said to both of them. Kya cheered and took Zuko's hand and dragged him to the pool. Katara just shook her head and went into the locker room to see her team sitting on the bench, white as sheets.

"Alright team, what the hell has gotten into you?" She sighed in exasperation. The team looked up at her.

"We're always like this before a meet." Asami said and the team nodded.

"No you're not. Do you think I've been a bad couch? Are you scared I've been coaching you wrong?"

"No Kat!" Orlenka cried amidst the team's protests. "We all think you're great. But the pressure this year is too much! We have to compete for a spot on the Olympic team!"

"Screw that!" Katara yelled. "Listen to me, all of you! You are amazing divers, and you deserve a spot on that team. But you will not get anywhere if you don't conquer your uneasiness. Divers make the most mistakes when they're stressed and/or nervous. The best of the best have failed at simple meets like this one because they let their fears get to them. When you dive on Tuesday, don't think of that spot on the Olympic team. Don't think about disappointing me or our sponsors. You dive for yourself and you become the best that you can be to prove to yourselves that you can do it. You dive because you want to, not because you have to. You're all lucky to be able to have made a career of doing something you love; you don't come to practice thinking of how your life could have turned out differently if you had pursued your dreams – this is your dream! You've made it, and, knock on wood, you're all still here! If you lose sight of the reason you're diving, then you have lost sight of what it is you're meant to be doing. Diving isn't a job, a chore; it's not something that should cause problems. On the contrary, diving is meant to release you of all your problems and make you feel happy and free. Now, tomorrow we rendezvous here again, same time, and I'd better see some improvement!" The team was silent while Katara was giving her motivational speech but once she was done they erupted in cheers; they all got up and hugged her. Katara felt a surge of pride as they all group hugged.

"Ka-ta-ra!" Orlenka started chanting and soon the whole team was chanting for her. Katara was still smiling when she left the locker room. She saw Zuko talking with the publicist – or rather, the publicist was talking while Zuko kept an eye on Kya. The publicist spied her walking over and smiled,

"Ah, Katara!" Zuko snapped around to see Katara walking toward them. "I was just telling _Zuko _here that he can come with us on the bus on Tuesday since the meet will be happening out of the &county." Katara nodded her head wearily. She listened as the publicist droned on and on about Tuesday and the upcoming meet; every now and then she would glance at Kya who was paddling in the shallow end of the pool.

The publicist finally left and Katara turned to Zuko.

"Thanks for looking after Kya."

"It was my pleasure. But you do know that at some point, we will have to talk about her."

"What is there to talk about Zuko?"

"Katara, you said you were going to take care of it."

"How can you be so callous?"

"Callous? I was being pragmatic! You saw what it did to your life, I was right!" Katara gave a dry laugh.

"Oh yes, my life is ruined." She said sarcastically, "Zuko, Kya is the best thing to happen to me."

"You could have been a doctor by now. You had dreams about working with the organization Doctors Without Borders!"

"So because I'm not a doctor and I'm working in a pool instead of some surgery I'm unhappy? Or discontent?"

"You were on a swimming scholarship – the minute you decided to keep Kya, you lost it."

"You think losing the scholarship was the worst thing that could have happened to me? Being told by the father of your unborn baby that you're basically a slut isn't something I enjoy listening to."

"I tried to apologise."

"Piss off Zuko!"

"No! Kya's born, there's nothing I can do about that, but I want to be a part of her life."

"Do you listen to yourself!?" Katara shouted, practically in tears. "Listen to what you're saying! Why the hell would you want to be part of her life when you obviously don't agree with the fact that she's been born?" Kya's voice broke the silence from Katara's outburst. Zuko and Katara turned to her and saw that she was standing on the first diving board.

"Mummy, Zuko look at me!" Kya jumped, Katara run toward the swimming pool.

"KYA NO!"


	12. Chapter 12

Previously on While You Were Gone: "_Do you listen to yourself!?" Katara shouted, practically in tears. "Listen to what you're saying! Why the hell would you want to be part of her life when you obviously don't agree with the fact that she's been born?" Kya's voice broke the silence from Katara's outburst. Zuko and Katara turned to her and saw that she was standing on the first diving board._

_"__Mummy, Zuko look at me!" Kya jumped, Katara run toward the swimming pool._

_"__KYA NO!"_

Chapter 12

Katara shouted, but was too late; Kya had jumped but had miscalculated the jump and hit her head on the diving board before falling into the pool, a trail of blood dripping steadily into the blue water of the pool. Katara lunged and prepared to jump in the pool but Zuko had already sprinted ahead and jumped in to fish Kya's limp body out.

"Call an ambulance!" He yelled as he pulled Kya to the side of the pool. Thankfully Asami was passing by the pool after hearing the shouting match between Zuko and Katara. She whipped out her phone and called for an ambulance to come immediately to Ba Sing Se Swimming Centre. Zuko laid out his daughter on the pool's floor and leaned over to hear her heartbeat. Katara was sitting next to him trying her hardest not to cry. Zuko, frustrated that he couldn't hear his daughter's heartbeat over the pounding rush of blood to his head, got up and let Katara take over; she always knew what to do, and this time, she had to. Katara quickly felt for her daughter's hand and counted her pulse; she put her towel under Kya's bleeding head,

"Hold it against her wound, tightly." She barked. Zuko obeyed and knelt down to cradle his daughter's head in his lap as he pressed the towel to her wound. Katara counted down Kya's torso and placed two hands over her chest and started pumping – CPR wasn't something just doctors knew, coaches had to know CPR as well, pool safety regulations. Kya sputtered up some water and started coughing – the sound of the ambulance was heard coming closer and closer. Kya looked at her mother and at Zuko who were both smiling at her and whispering words of comfort. She smiled at them before passing out from the pain.

The ambulance could take only one so the paramedic turned to Zuko:

"We'll be taking your wife and daughter to Memorial Hospital in the middle boroughs. Do you have a car?" Zuko nodded, numbly. He didn't know how he was going to drive in this state, he could barely see in front of him and his daughter's blood was still on his hands. Asami walked up to him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder; she saw the look only a father could produce when his daughter was in danger – Kya looked like her parents so much, it was hard to miss the connection.

"I have a car, I'll take you." Zuko tried to croak out a 'thank you' but his voice seemed to stick in the back of his throat so he just nodded.

* * *

Asami was crazy, they had arrived at the hospital before the ambulance. Zuko was waiting for the ambulance to come while trying to get rid of the motion sickness he had experienced with Asami's insane driving. He wasn't one to normally get sick in the car but when the driver was whizzing past cars, and the landscape outside the window had become a blur of all the colours it had to offer, Zuko felt his stomach churn at every slightest movement of the car.

He finally saw the ambulance coming; Asami was waiting patiently in the visiting area. He saw Katara jump out from the back of the ambulance; Kya soon followed on a stretch bed that was far too big for her held by two paramedics. She saw Zuko waiting impatiently by the door and sighed with relief.

"They're taking her to the ER just to get stitches. You can come too." Zuko nodded because he had yet to find his voice. He followed her to the ER, passing Asami on the way and filling her in on what was happening, his sentences incomplete and incomprehensible. Asasmi nodded and as she watched them leave, she took out her phone and punched a message to Katara before leaving; the family had to be alone now and she had done all she could.

Zuko was holding Katara's hand the entire time Kya's head was stitched up by the doctor; although he wondered whether he was holding her hand to comfort her or the other way around. When their daughter was stitched up the doctor turned around,

"Your daughter should be fine. You did very well by placing the towel on her wound and by doing CPR. She should wake up in a bit but I warn you she will be very weak, she's lost a lot of blood. I would recommend bringing her some sweets, fizzy lemonade and water." The doctor nodded at them, asked if they had any more questions and left them with Kya. Katara sank in the chair next to Kya's bed while Zuko closed the curtain around them.

"I should text Mai and Uncle." He said, while taking out his phone.

"I have to text my friends and Jet." She took out her phone and saw the message from Asami; I HOPE ALL IS OK WITH KYA. GIVE HER ALL MY LOVE WHEN SHE WAKES UP. DON'T WORRY, I WON'T TELL ANYONE ABOUT ZUKO ;-) WE SHOULD TALK SOON, YOU HAVE A LOT TO TELL YOUNG LADY.

Katara blushed before sending a message to all her friends.

KYA HAD ACCIDENT AT POOL. IN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL NOW. ZUKO W/ US. EVEYTHING OK. KYA SLEEPING.

She couldn't write anymore, her hands were exhausted. Zuko was also done texting his uncle and fiancée and sat down on the edge of Kya's bed in front of Katara; he was cracking his knuckles when she noticed the dried blood on his hands.

"Zuko!" She pointed at his hands, shocked. Zuko stretched out his hands and saw that the blood had set on his hands. He went to find a sink to wash his hands and stared as the water turned red; the whirlpool of the red water captivated him and he stared at it for a long time until Katara came to find him.

"Zuko." Her voice was soft. He put a hand on his should and turned him around. Zuko still seemed to be in a daze so Katara switched the tap off behind him and took out paper towels to dry his hands. He still didn't seem to acknowledge her. She led him back to Kya's bed and seated him in her chair. "Zuko wake up." She clicked her fingers in front of him. After what seemed like an eternity, Zuko spoke,

"I was meant to be watching her." His voice croaked and it broke off towards the end. Katara smiled at smiled.

"Kids will be kids Zuko, we can't constantly be watching them." She sat down where Zuko was previously sitting and looked at him. "I'll admit, I was furious and blamed you for what happened at the pool, but it I realized in the ambulance that it wasn't your fault. I was there too and I am as much to blame as you, more so if I'm being completely truthful."

"How do you do it?" Before Katara could answer Kya started stirring and both her parents immediately stood up.

"Mummy?" Katara held her daughter's hand and placed her other hand on her forehead, creating soothing circles with her thumb. Zuko went to her other side and, because he didn't know what to do, just looked at her in case she needed anything. "Zuko?" Her voice was so small and frail Zuko could feel his heart breaking. She struggled to lift her arm to find his hand and clutch it in her weak grasp. Zuko smiled as her hand found his and a faint smile appeared on her lips. The curtain ripped open and Iroh and Mai came in; Mai was holding a bag full of sweets and lemonade and food while Iroh was clutching his stomach.

"This woman is crazy." He said pointing to Mai as he heaved himself in the chair next to Kya. Mai just smirked at him.

"Well I am half deaf; you were screaming like a little girl over that bridge." She gave the bag to Zuko and went to stand at the foot of Kya's bed. Katara turned to Iroh, smiling.

"She was driving three times the speed limit." He told her softly; Katara just grinned at him and then turned to Mai.

"Thanks for bringing these. I was just about to ask Zuko to go." Mai waved her off with her hand.

"It's nothing." She drawled. She rubbed Kya's shins and the little girl gave her a smile. "You gave us quite a fright young girl. Imagine what your poor p-mother went through and poor Zuko." Kya turned to look at her mother and then at Zuko,

"I'm sorry." She croaked. Zuko opened up a lemonade and popped a straw in her mouth.

"As long as you don't do it again." He said. She turned to see Katara nodding as she watched her daughter slurp the lemonade from the straw. The curtain opened again and Kya leaned forward to see who was coming; Toph and Aang were holding a massive basket while Sokka and Suki were holding a teddy bear.

"Hello Chibi Princess." Toph said and dumped the basket in Katara's arms. She gave her a cold stare, "Next time you text us that my precious niece has been hurt, you'd better provide more information or else I'll make you hippo fodder."

"Auntie! Uncle!" Katara stepped out of the way and let Kya hug her family. She looked at the basket Toph had placed in her arms,

"Er Toph…" Aang looked at her sheepishly while Toph just looked unfazed.

"I wasn't with her when she picked it up; she came with the driver and I came with my car."

"Ok Princess, so I made a mistake, it's not exactly chocolate, but maybe you and Jet might get some use out of it." Everyone in the room giggled except for Zuko, who was frowning at the blind girl.

"Toph, it's a basket for a bachelorette party. There's a vibrator in here!" Katara hissed.

"There are also condoms to make sure you're safe!" The blind woman grinned.

"What's a vibrator? What's a condom?" Katara cursed and Zuko shot her a glare.

"Katara!" He hissed.

"What?" She said. She turned to Kya, "A vibrator is a… it's a…"

"It's a massage machine that only adults are allowed to use. Condoms are what parents use when they are very much in love, but don't want to start a family just yet." Mai explained. Everyone stared at her but she continued to look at Kya.

"Oh ok." Kya snuggled in her hospital bed; she seemed to be regaining her colour and her strength after eating most of the chocolate Mai had brought.

"Well I'm sorry I made a mistake, I owe you a big present!" Toph told the little girl as she pinched her nose making Kya giggle. She turned to Katara, "If you want, I've had the guest room prepared for you and Chibi Sugar Queen to come and stay with me for a few days. I have 24/7 nanny service and you have that swimming meet on Tuesday. But I know you like your independence and what-not so you can decide. I'm just saying, it's going to make your life much easier." Katara thought about her offer; it would be good to know Kya was being watched while she went to work – the meet was really important.

"No need for that. I had the guest room at our house prepared and Kya will come and stay with us. Akido can take care of her." Zuko jerked his head to look at his fiancée.

"Oh…er…" Mai's voice exuded so much authority that even Toph didn't dare question it.

"Katara, come to our house, I'm sure Iroh and Zuko won't mind." The two men shook their heads vigorously. "I can drive you to work while I visit the charity organizations I have set up there." Katara couldn't refuse – she was still skeptical of Mai but the thought of her knife abilities was enough to convince her to agree. Katara finally nodded and Kya squealed with joy.

"Yey!" She clapped her hands. The curtain opened once more and Jet came in holding a small teddy bear. The area around Kya's bed was getting crowded so Aang dragged Toph while Suki dragged Sokka out of the room.

"Oh….er… hi" Jet awkwardly waved at the group. Katara rushed to hug him.

"I'm so happy you're here!" She squealed. Jet hugged her and noticed Zuko avoiding his gaze.

"Hey champ!" He went to Kya's bed after Katara had released him and gave her the teddy. Kya grabbed it and squealed her thanks. There was an awkward silence which Iroh broke by speaking to Katara,

"Katara my dear I should best head out with Mai. We'll see you back home." Jet looked confused and Katara mouthed 'I'll explain later'. Iroh turned to Kya and tickled her softly in the belly.

"You shouldn't have us worried. I am an old man." Kya laughed at him and stretched her arms out to hug him. Iroh leaned into the little girl's hug and grasped her tightly.

"Thank you uncle!" She said and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Iroh gave her one last squeeze and beckoned to Mai to follow him out the door. "Mai!" Kya held out her arms, wanting to hug Mai. Mai, confused, went to hug the girl and smiled as the girl squeezed as hard as she could. "Thank you for the chocolate and the lemonade." She said and gave the tall woman a kiss on the cheek as well. Katara, who was watching the whole scene unfold, surprisingly did not feel the pang of jealousy she thought she would feel. Mai turned to her before leaving,

"Be careful." Was all the woman said before following Iroh. Jet turned to Zuko, expecting him to leave as well, but Zuko avoided his gaze and instead sat on the edge of Kya's bed, still holding her hand. Jet sighed and turned to Katara.

"What happened? Your message was so brief!" Katara gave him a brief recount of the event, conveniently leaving out the fight she had had with Zuko. When silence fell once more, after Jet shot Zuko some dirty looks, the three stayed silent until the doctor came with Kya's exit papers.

"If you could just pay at reception." The doctor pointed to the bored receptionist sitting behind the desk. Katara nodded,

"Kya honey, you stay with Jet while mummy goes and pays ok?" Kya sat beside Jet dutifully until her mother came back. Zuko wordlessly followed Katara who let him, no questions asked.

"Your bill." The receptionist gave her a piece of paper which Katara took; once she read through the list and saw the amount to pay her eyes widened and her heart started beating faster. She didn't have this much money – she would have to dip into her savings.

"Um…" Katara's voice was meek from the shock, "is there some way I could pay in installments?" The receptionist wordlessly shook her head. Katara thought about the little pile of savings she had saved away and turned to the receptionist again, "How many days do I have to pay?" The receptionist blew a raspberry and snatched the piece of paper out of Katara's hands and turned it over; she circled something and gave it back to her.

**6. The patient cannot pay in installments unless s/he has some guarantee. A tax of 5.3% will be added.**

**7. The patient has 14 days from the date of exit to pay the bills. Any late payments will be taken to the legal office.**

Katara muttered a 'thank you' and folded the bill and was ready to leave until Zuko pressed a black credit card under the receptionist's nose.

"Zuko." She hissed. He looked at her, fire in his eyes. The receptionist processed the card and made them both sign a few papers. "How am I going to repay you?" She said as they walked back to Kya and Jet.

"You don't have to. She's my daughter too." Katara stopped and before Zuko knew it, she had him engulfed in a hug. He hugged her back, squeezed her a little too hard; the memories of the time they had done this so many times six years ago came floating back. He didn't want to leave her, but unfortunately they both had other commitments. Neither one noticed the stares they received from the two people waiting for them; one was smiling while the other had pure hatred in his eyes.

* * *

Jet dropped them off at Zuko's house, even though he wasn't really happy about leaving Katara in her ex-boyfriend's house but he did so grudgingly because Katara had asked him. He walked Katara to the house, holding on to her with a bit more force than was necessary. Zuko rang the door bell and Akido answered; he double backed when he saw the sleeping figure in Zuko's arms and Jet holding Katara's hand.

"I'm sorry sir, but Mrs Shroud told me to expect two extra people."

"Oh, he's leaving." Zuko turned to Jet and gave him a smug smirk, "Thanks for bringing us here." Jet smirked back and when Katara went to kiss him goodbye he pulled her into a passionate kiss. Akido coughed and looked away in embarrassment while Zuko shot daggers at the kissing couple with his eyes. Finally, the couple pulled apart, panting; Katara smiled at Jet and gave him a hug before entering the house.

"You're welcome, Zuko." Jet smirked at the scowling man and gave a mock bow before walking back to the car; Katara was oblivious to everything as she was making sure her sleeping daughter was ok.

"Did you bring any clothes?" Akido asked Katara who then gave him the suitcase she was carrying. Jet had passed them by her house to pick up a few essentials since they would be staying here until Tuesday. "Very well then, I shall put the clothes away in your room." Akido took the suitcase and went upstairs before Katara could protest. The sleeping girl in Zuko's arms started to stir which prompted Katara to rush over.

"Hiya honey, you ok?" Kya nodded, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"I'm hungry." She said. Zuko laughed and bounced her a bit in his arms.

"Well, lucky for you, Mai has a welcome back feast prepared, just for you. And, as a bonus point, Uncle Iroh prepared his special tea." Kya laughed as Zuko continued to bounce her into the dining room. Katara sighed and followed them – it was going to be a long three days she thought.

* * *

A/N

Sidenote 2: Guys, I won't be able to update this week :( Sorry, not much internet here - it's complicated updating now.

I thrive on your reviews! Thank you SO MUCH! Keep reviewing and I'll become so happy I'll explode! :)

**AuroraFireMadness**


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: So sorry I haven't been updating but it was my birthday and I gave myself a really awesome present – a trip to San Francisco. If any of my readers are from SF, know that you are from an amazing city, seriously. I fell in love with the place (even the hills!) I now have muscles I didn't even know I had! But seriously, anyone who was thinking of going there but are a bit hesitant – don't be, GO! I've been wanting to go for ten years but since I live in Europe, it was a bitch getting there.

Sidenote2: I absolutely love the scene where Kya and Azula are interacting. This is exactly how I pictured Azula (when she's in a normal state) with her brother's kid…

Chapter 13

On Sunday evening Katara found that sleep evaded her. After checking that Kya was asleep, she crept out of bed and opened the door quietly and made her way to the kitchen where she made a steaming mug of hot chocolate. She tried to be as quiet as possible because she knew Akido and Zuko were light sleepers; the former's sleeping quarters were right next to the kitchen, a fact which Katara was conscious about. She took her mug and went to the swimming pool where the pool lights made the water glisten as if it was made out of sparkles. She made herself comfortable on one of the pool chairs and closed her eyes; she breathed in the familiar scent of chlorine – although it was nothing like breathing in the scent of fresh air by the sea, it was a scent that had come to symbolise familiarity and comfort over the years.

She stayed like that for a few moments didn't stir when she felt his presence by her side – he had a way of walking like a cat in the night but his presence was just as comforting as the smell of chlorine.

"You're awake." His voice sounded like sleep. Katara was always the night owl in the relationship. Their personalities were as different as the times of day they enjoyed – night and day. Zuko had always been an early riser which always made her feel lazy in the mornings when she awoke to find his side of the bed empty; he was always showered, after spending some time on his morning work-out, and on his second cup of coffee when Katara came into the kitchen looking like the living dead.

"Couldn't sleep." She felt a weight on the edge of the pool bed she was lying on.

"Worried about Kya?" She opened her eyes and saw his gaze, full of concern, concentrated on her. What she also noticed was the subtle look of pity he gave her which made her feel angry.

"Yes, I am worried about Kya. My five year old daughter's head had to be stitched up because I was too busy yelling at you." Nostrils flared and voice filled with anger and underlying hints of guilt, Zuko paled at Katara's words.

"I wasn't challenging your parenting skills. You have every right to be worried." He replied softly. Katara's face softened and finally she relaxed the rigid stature she had adopted. For a moment, neither of them said anything and yet in that silence a thousand questions were asked, a thousand regrets were said and an unspoken recognition of guilt and pain on either party were sent into the void.

"Thank you, again." Katara broke the silence. She was looking at the man in front of her whose blank gaze was transfixed on the empty bar opposite him. "You didn't have to do this you know. You and Mai have been more than generous with Kya and... and me..." She trailed off. He turned slowly to face her – usually his expressions were legible to her, she knew him better than anyone, but the expression he currently wore on his face was something else – almost as if... her thought trailed off as he spoke.

"Mai and I love Kya. You've raised her well." He gave her a small smile. Katara felt fear growing in the pit of her stomach; Zuko and Mai had discussed Kya, and they loved her. What if they wanted to take her away from her? The thought made her feel nervous so she took a sip of the, now warm, hot chocolate. "Mai thinks Kya is adorable and she represents the best of both of us."

"She had an excellent mother." Katara didn't like bragging about Kya's mature personality, which amazed everyone she met, because Kya was fully responsible for it, not Katara; but right now, she felt the need to tighten the defence around her and her daughter.

"I know." Zuko looked down into his lap and then back up at her. "Mai wants to take her to Ember Island this summer." Katara inwardly cursed Mai with all the swear words she knew. Ember Island was Zuko's family's holiday house in another state. He and that... Katara called her a word that would have made even Sokka blush, wanted to take her daughter away from her.

"No." She said with a little more force and malice than intended.

"You would come too. Mai would never think of breaking you two up." Katara snorted which prompted Zuko to raise an eye brow at her. "You don't like Mai." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Katara looked at him with condescending humour in her eyes.

"If that woman wants a ready-made family after marrying you, she is not going to complete it with my daughter." Zuko smiled at her, or rather, it was the ghost of a smile laughing at an inside joke. "What?" Katara asked.

"You don't know Mai at all."

"And I don't want to." Katara forcefully said and folded her slender arms across her chest.

"Mai's one of the..." Zuko sighed, "She's an amazing girl. She is one of the best friends I could have ever asked for. If I hadn't found her in Paris after... well... if I hadn't found her in Paris when I went, I would have been a completely different person. I probably would have let my father influence me more than he should." Katara had had enough. He was talking about the period after she had told him about her pregnancy, a time when she had loved him and needed him most and he was telling her about how he had found solace in Mai, and how she had been his guiding hand. Katara felt the rage of jealousy flare up inside her; she got up, letting Zuko and his side of the pool bed sink to floor with the sudden uneven distribution of weight.

"You and your precious fiancée can do whatever the hell you want. But leave my daughter out of your plans for a happy family, she's mine and I don't like sharing." Katara spat out before leaving a very bewildered Zuko sitting on a sunken pool bed. She missed the half smile he gave her retreating back as he got up and rubbed his bruised bottom.

* * *

The next morning Katara woke up to a stirring Kya. The events from last night came flooding back and she groaned; she didn't want to face Zuko after her little outburst. The door to their bedroom opened a bit before Zuko knocked and announced himself. He pushed the door open, carrying two steaming mugs. He placed Katara's coffee on her bed-side table wordlessly before going to Kya's side of the bed. Katara took the mug and peered as her daughter's father prepared for the wrath that was to come from waking their little, sleeping demon up.

"Kya. Honey." Zuko whispered and gave her chin a little tickle. Kya flinched and swiped at him her leg. Zuko put the mug of hot chocolate on her bed side table before ripping off the duvet, startling a very confused Kya, and hanging her limp body over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Kya was too confused to protest so she just leaned her elbows on his back and propped her chin up in her hands giving her mother a very confused look. Katara grinned; that was how Zuko woke her up when she absolutely had to get up early in the morning.

The breakfast that followed was... interesting to say the least. Azula had shown up with Ty Lee unannounced. Kya immediately took to Ty Lee's bubbly personality and soon become best friends with the bubbling girl. At breakfast, Kya sat next to Azula; her personality strikingly different from the severe looking girl.

"I'm Kya." Kya looked up at Azula was cutting up a pear with a very sharp knife; Katara kept a watchful eye on what Azula did with the sharp object. Kya took a bite of her bread, still looking at Azula who was looking at the pear. "What's your name?" She asked, mouth full of chewed up bread. Azula looked at her, brow raised.

"Azula. But you can call me Auntie Azula." She smirked at the gobsmacked Katara and at Zuko who was pinching the brow of his nose and sighing. Kya gave her a wide grin; Azula gave her a pinched look as if she had just swallowed a whole lemon.

"Look what I can do!" Kya took a whole banana and stuffed it in her mouth she chewed a little bit up and opened her mouth wide open, showing the disgusting content to Azula.

"Kya!" Katara reprimanded from across the table. Azula just gave her a bored look.

"You look like the monkeys from the zoo. Swallow little monkey" Kya giggled and dutifully swallowed the banana. She opened her mouth again to show Azula she had followed her orders; Azula peered into the open mouth and, apparently satisfied, gave her a curt nod. "Good, now drink your orange juice before the vitamins run away." She placed the glass of orange juice in front of Kya, who took it and drank large gulps. Ty Lee was busy cutting the crusts off Kya's sandwich, Mai was looking at Azula and Kya but with a funny expression on her face that Katara couldn't place, Zuko had a bemused look on his face as he saw his sister's...interesting interaction with his daughter and Katara could only imagine the look of horror on her face as Azula acted completely non-crazy around her daughter.

"I drank my orange juice, now the vitamins can't run away." Kya gave the empty glass to Azula, who took it and put in the middle of the table.

"Now eat your sandwich Ty Lee gave you." Kya took the sandwich from Ty Lee, thanked her, and turned to look at Azula again – she seemed to be fascinated with the woman in front of her.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Zuko's sister." Kya's eyes widened and looked from Zuko to Azula, back to Zuko and then finally back to Azula.

"You look nothing alike! You don't have red around your eye." Zuko instinctively went to cover his scar while Azula just grinned.

"He wasn't born with that. It's a scar."

"What's a scar?"

"It's when you get hurt really badly and it leaves a mark... like the one on Zuko's face." Kya's eyes widened as she bit into her sandwich.

"So that's why the uncle in Lion King is called scar – he has a scar on his eye too!" Azula raised an eye brow.

"I guess."

"But Zuko is good. Scar is bad." Katara tried to follow her daughter's train of thought to come to that conclusion but failed.

"I guess." Azula said again, shrugging her shoulders.

"Why are your nails sharpened?" Azula gave her a mischievous grin.

"It's so that I can point annoying little monkeys when they ask too many questions." She said and gave Kya a little demonstration by poking her in the belly, which made her giggle.

"I like you." Kya said and a stunned silence fell in the dining room. Kya didn't notice and continued to eat her sandwich.

After breakfast, Ty Lee showed Kya some stretching exercised that helped with digestion. Zuko then picked her up telling her it was time for school, at which point Kya groaned. She went around a circle, hugging everyone; she made Ty Lee promise that when they met again she would her a few more stretches, Mai had made her a packed lunch, and when she hugged the stiff Azula, Katara swore she saw the beautiful woman smile for a brief moment before giving her a little pat on the back. Kya ran to Zuko and jumped in his open arms.

"Are you taking me to school?" Zuko looked at Katara; she could see the unasked question in his eyes. She nodded.

When they arrived at Kya's school, Zuko opened the door to let the little girl clamber out of her mother's arms – they didn't have a car seat therefore Katara thought it a little dangerous to let her sit back alone. Zuko picked Kya up and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Promise to be a good girl today?" Kya smiled at him.

"Always." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and then looked into his eyes. Zuko felt his heart clench – this was his daughter, he still couldn't believe it. Kya softly touched his scar with a trembling finger. "You got hurt." Zuko nodded. Kya leaned in and softly kissed his charred face. "It's all better now." She said and gave him another hug and then stretched her arms out toward her mother. Zuko placed Kya in Katara's arms; the two hugged for a brief moment before exchanging dialogue. Zuko tuned them out as he touched the part of his scar his daughter had so innocently kissed – he swore he felt warmth emanating from the spot and smiled. Katara let Kya walk up the driveway to her school, and smiled as Kya walked through the door. Zuko turned to face her:

"I can take you to work." He said and opened the passenger door.

"No." Katara's voice was icy. Zuko was taken aback; her whole demeanour had changed. She went from being warm and loving to cold and defensive. She hitched her hand bag up her shoulder and started walking away from the car. Part of him wanted to run after her and argue about what just happened. But the part of him that was rational and knew Katara really well, when she was stubborn, nothing could change her mind, won.

* * *

Katara walked into the cafeteria during lunch time, mood elevated. Practice was going great, Jet had texted her to meet up tomorrow and celebrate the team's sure win, and tonight was the last night she would spend in Zuko's home. She took her lunch tray and scanned the room for an empty spot; her heart sunk when she saw a familiar pale, thin girl sat in a corner table. The girl looked up at her, raised an eyebrow and gestured to the seat in front of her. Katara sighed and walked up to her.

"Hello Mai." She sat down opposite the girl and opened her salad.

"Katara, hello. I hope practice went well." Katara shoved a forkful of salad in her mouth and swallowed – with it she swallowed the defensive retort she wanted to say.

"Cut the chit-chat and get to the point. I only have 30 minutes for my break." Mai sipped her coffee.

"Zuko." Katara sighed and put her fork down. She got up to leave but she felt Mai's cool hand on her own, which was clutching the tray. "Please, stay." Katara, reluctantly, sat back down. "I met Zuko again in Paris, after not having seen him for a really long time. You probably know that we once dated briefly when we were teenagers." Katara nodded. "I was in Paris because I needed to get away from my parents and... certain people. I found my true self there. Zuko helped me become who I wanted to be for a really long time. He was... he was amazing. The best friend any one could ever ask for. We realised that in one another we found what we needed most." Katara was starting to feel the green-eyed monster of jealousy again and clutched the plastic fork so hard that it snapped. Mai just raised her eyebrows and continued her story. "Zuko told me what he had gone through with you and, despite my best efforts, I couldn't convince him that you would have forgiven him."

"You got that right." Katara muttered and continued eating her salad with the broken fork. Mai chose to ignore her interruption.

"We spent two years in Paris, together and a lot had changed. My situation was... it was unfortunate. Zuko was always there for me, no matter what. I think he tried to make up for being away from you. His father then came and proposed he run for Senator in a few years – his years as Ambassador to France would be in his favour. Meanwhile, my mother and father back home were forcing me to find a husband or else never return home." Katara looked up from her food to see Mai's eyes glaze over with tears and felt sorrow for the girl sitting in front of her. She didn't look the regal Senator-to-be's wife; she looked like someone who had lost everything she loved. "Zuko wanted to help," her voice sounded like she was on the brink of crying but she didn't, "so we made a deal. I would help him be the family Senator everyone wanted him to be, including his father, and he would help me get back into my family's good graces."

"Why are you telling me this Mai?" Katara felt bad for Mai, but she couldn't sit there and listen to her sob story; Katara had been through much worse and she didn't have Zuko by her side.

"Katara, Zuko chose to stay with me knowing that he would never be with you. He threw his life away by staying with me. Being with me is his penance for not being with you." Katara was really confused. Why would Mai demean herself so much?

"Mai, you are a great girl and will be an excellent Senator's wife. Why are... why..." Katara couldn't find the right words to say. Mai smiled at her.

"Zuko didn't want to be with another woman after you."

"...and you're a man?" Katara snorted sarcastically.

"No...I'm a lesbian actually."

* * *

That night Katara found Zuko waiting for her in the pool room. He tried to hide a yawn, but he was unsuccessful – being up late was Katara's thing. He wordlessly held a mug of hot chocolate out for her. She took the steaming mug and sat down next to him.

"Mai told me she visited you at the pool today." Katara nodded. After Mai had dropped the bombshell on her about her sexual preferences, Katara couldn't help but look at the woman, shock written all over her face.

"She's in love with Ty Lee." Katara mused and took a sip.

"Who's in love with my sister." Katara snapped around to look at Zuko.

"What?"

"We're both suffering from unrequited love."

"But your sister... she's..."

"I know... my sister is straight but Ty Lee is still hoping." Katara took another sip as she mulled over the new information she had been given. That was the look Mai had given Azula at the dinner table – Kya was sitting in between Ty Lee and Azula who were both taking care of her; Mai had seen them as the perfect little family.

"Well... that explains a lot." They sat in silence until Katara had finished her hot chocolate, just enjoying each other's presence. Zuko walked her to the door of the room where she stopped and turned to face him.

"I'm sorry for today... and for every other time I was being jealous. I kept imagining you and Mai and Kya as the perfect family and I couldn't take it."

"There's nothing to forgive. I couldn't tell you about Mai cause it wasn't my secret to tell." Katara turned to open the door to her room but Zuko caught her wrist. Just as she turned to see what he wanted he leaned forward to kiss her. Both were lost in the passion that they had wanted to succumb to since seeing each other again after a long time.

"I've wanted to do that for a really long time." Zuko said when they came up for air, panting. Katara pulled her wrist from his hand and went into her room shutting the door on a very happy, albeit now confused, Zuko.

What had she done?


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Thankfully Tuesday came and left without much interaction between Zuko and Katara. After hearing what Mai had said, Katara avoided Zuko like the plague; she didn't know what this information meant for them but for the time being she had Jet to focus on. Katara hummed as she picked out a dress; she was clad in a towel and ruffling through her choices. She was in a great mood – everyone on the team had won a medal, which was unusual for a team who had recently changed coach, Jet was taking her out to dinner and then she would meet her team at a bar for drinks and introduce them to Jet. She shimmied into her dress and styled her hair like that night when she went to the club; satisfied with her hair loopies she began putting on make-up. At some point Kya had come in and was sitting on her bed staring at her mother who was getting ready.

Katara spied on Kya through the mirror as she put on foundation. Kya was leafing through a storybook Mai had given her as a present. She seemed subdued and, although she hadn't confirmed it, Katara had her suspicions that the little girl missed being with Zuko and his fiancée. The little girl had become quite attached to the couple and the affection that they showed her. Katara closed her mascara and turned to face Kya.

"Does mummy look pretty?" Kya looked up at her mother and smiled. She was wearing a burgundy coloured dress that came to just above her knee, simple silver earrings that hung from her ears and smoky eyes. Her mother was really pretty,

"Mummy, you always look pretty." Katara smiled at her daughter.

"Thanks! Sophie should be here in a bit. I promise I won't be that late." Kya just nodded in recognition and returned to leafing the storybook in her hands. Katara sighed and got up to sit next to her.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Kya leaned into her mother's embrace. Her voice sounded so sad it made Katara's heart break.

"Nothing." Katara smoothed her daughter's hair and gently pulled her head up to face her.

"Kya, in this family there are no secrets. I know you better than anyone, something's wrong." Kya sighed.

"I want to know if my daddy is as good as Zuko." Katara didn't say anything; she leaned in closer to Kya and embraced her. She was right, there were never any secrets between her and Kya. But she couldn't tell her daughter that her father was Zuko; he was like fire, unpredictable and dangerous if not closely monitored. Zuko could, at any moment, take off and leave again. His temper was something Katara didn't want Kya to know about. Perhaps some underlying reason was because Katara was selfish and didn't want to share Kya with someone who had abandoned her before she was even born.

"Listen to me honey, mummy will always love you enough for a mother and a father. Don't you ever forget that ok?" Kya hugged her mother. "Tomorrow when we go to Auntie Toph's house, what cake do you want to take?"

"Are we on cake duty?" Katara nodded. "Carrot cake. Uncle Sokka hates it." Katara laughed; her daughter enjoyed torturing her uncle. A few moments later Sophie and Jet arrived at the door. Katara promised that she would be home early – and so she was.

That night as Katara lay in bed with Jet, her thoughts turned to a messy haired man with golden eyes. Jet had fallen asleep next to her but the moonlight shone through the curtains and sleep evaded Katara. She softly got out of bed, trying to not wake the sleeping figure next to her, and crept downstairs. She stole some of Kya's hot chocolate mix and made herself a batch. Her phone, which always charged in the kitchen due to her morning temperament of throwing things against the wall, was flashing – who would send her a message so late at night? She opened her phone, keeping an eye on her hot chocolate simmering in the pan. She couldn't help but smile when she saw that the recipient was none other than Zuko.

Missing you and Kya He had also attached a photo of a mug of hot chocolate. Katara smiled. She poured her hot chocolate into a mug and wrapped a blanket around her; she disconnected her phone from the charger and, holding her mug, went outside into the tiny, unkempt garden behind the house. She contemplated texting Zuko back; as much as she wanted to, especially since their kiss, she couldn't do that to Jet. He had done nothing wrong. And truth be told, she liked Jet. He was safe – he wasn't running for Senator, nor was his family oppressive (although, since he was an orphan Katara didn't really have much to worry with his family liking her). Katara held her phone for a long time before choosing and finally drained the contents of her mug. As she washed her mug, she kept hoping that she had made the right choice.

* * *

The next day Katara and Kya were scheduled to be at Toph's for an early dinner. Kya was making sure that the carrot cake was secured while Katara was trying not to swear at slow drivers in front of her. Toph hated them being late but drivers in this horrible borough were so slow which was ironic because most of the cars had triple the horse power her tiny little car had. She gripped the stirring wheel while stealing quick glances to her phone – Toph would be even angrier if she missed the call. She finally arrived on Toph's street with twenty minutes to spare – she wasn't that late. Feeling triumphant, she pulled into the driveway, behind Sokka's car and pulled the hand-break. She heard Kya unbuckling her seatbelt and picking up the carrot cake.

Her friends welcomed them will a little too much enthusiasm which made Katara a little suspicious. Suki sent Kya to play with the twins while Toph dragged her into the living room.

"You, us, Zuko house, three days, story, now." Katara laughed at Toph's bluntness.

"Toph, nothing happened."

"Sure nothing happened and my name ain't Toph BeiFong." Aang looked at her quizzically.

"Er, it's not. You changed your last name when you married me, remember?" Toph turned to the sound of his voice and sighed in exasperation.

"Whatever Twinkletoes. You know what I mean. Spill it princess!" Katara contemplated whether she would tell her friends about the kiss. She still felt guilty since she hadn't told Jet, nor was she planning to.

"There's nothing to tell." She finally said. Toph blew a raspberry and folded her arms.

"Hello, I wish you people would stop lying when we're in the same room. I'm a human lie detector, remember?" Katara closed her eyes and slowly willed for anything to happen – food burning, earthquake, uninvited guests, meteor shower – so that she could avoid having this conversation. Fate must have heard because the doorbell rang. Katara's eyes sprang open, "should have bought a scratch-card" she muttered. Aang got up, confused as to who would be at the door. Toph grinned when they heard the door open; the rest of them just heard muttered voices. As the voices came closer, and became more audible, Katara cringed. Fate hated her.

"Hi guys, Zuko is here." Toph leapt from the couch and went up to Zuko to give him a massive hug. He laughed and gave her a bear hug in return. Sokka and Suki got up; Suki gave him a brief hug while Sokka held out a hand and awkwardly shook it. For a while no-one spoke. Sokka and Suki were looking from Katara to Zuko highly anticipating the word-sparring that was to come. Zuko sighed and picked the bridge of his nose – he didn't want to talk about Kya with her brother in the room. The two were once good friends but after he broke it off with Katara, he and Sokka had also stopped talking. He turned to Katara,

"We need to talk about the elephant in the room." Zuko saw Sokka storm up to him from his peripheral vision.

"Watch how you talk about my wife! She's pregnant you asshole!" He pointed an accusing finger at Zuko who had a look of horror on his face.

"I wasn't talking about…" He turned to look at Suki, "Suki I didn't meant y-" Suki grinned and walked up to her husband grabbing him by the scruff of the neck.

"It's fine Zuko, I know what you mean." She turned to her husband, "You, into the kitchen now!" Before she left the room she turned to Zuko and Katara, "We'll be with Aang and Toph, feeding the hippo." Zuko looked confused. He turned to look at Katara,

"What is it with your family and animal personification? Your brother thought I called his wife an elephant and Suki just called your brother a hippo." Katara laughed despite dreading the conversation that was to follow.

"Aang saved a hippo and it's currently in their garden. Toph isn't too happy about it." Zuko pointed at the window,

"Can hippos survive in this weather?"

"As much as Toph hates the animal, she built him a pretty neat house that is kept at a comfortable temperature for him." Zuko nodded, although he didn't really understand what was going on. He decided to just go along with everything Katara said about her family and friends – it had always been like that. When they were going out he was part of the group but lost touch after he had moved countries.

Katara led him to a beautifully sculpted couch with soft, plush cushions.

"Why did you come?" Zuko was stunned; she got right to the point, like she always did. He took a breath breathe and exhaled slowly.

"I want partial custody of Kya." Katara was gobsmacked; out of all the things he could have asked for, he asked for that.

"Partial custody?" Her voice was barely audible.

"I'm not saying we have to go to court. But, if Kya could just spend a couple of days a week at my place, that would be great. You're welcome too." Katara thought his proposal over; he extended the invitation to her as well. It would be nice if Kya could have her father in her life. But then again, this was Zuko; he was unpredictable, had a horrible temper and she couldn't rely on him. Also, Jet would have a field day if she said that two days out of the week she would be spending it at Zuko's. She was about to reply when she heard the back door leading to the garden open and close a few times with footsteps running in and out.

"Suki!" Suki came barreling past them and ran up the stairs; Sokka came up behind her trying to catch up. "Suki, come back, we have to talk about this." Katara walked to the bottom of the stairs and looked up – she was clearly confused and had no idea what had just happened. Zuko's face also spelled confusion.

"Katara," Katara whipped around to see Toph standing next to Aang; tears were running down her cheeks. "Come into the living room, we have something to tell you." Aang guided his crying wife into a chair; puzzled, Katara and Zuko followed him. Aang fussed over Toph for a while before turning to Zuko and Katara with somber eyes. "Katara, I have some news for you. It really should be your brother who should be telling you but…" Katara felt her heart clench. Was her family in danger? "Sokka got a phone call while we were out in the garden. Princess Yue has been killed. The nation's declared war." Toph sniffled as she wiped away more tears. Katara gasped and felt her body go limp. If the nation was going to war that meant… Sokka had been called up. That's why Suki was so upset. Sokka… Suki… Yue was dead. Katara and her brother had known that Princess – her father was the liaison between the King and the people. Yue had been a life-long friend and once girlfriend of Sokka's before her father forced her to marry someone from a strange land in the hopes of creating peace between the two nations. Katara's mind was whizzing; she thought of her slain friend, of her brother, of her best friend crying upstairs because she was going to lose her husband. This wasn't happening – this couldn't be happening. The monarchy had no real power in this country, why were they avenging his daughter's death with war? They had managed to keep out of numerous battles of the 100 year war – only sending very few troops as a sign of good faith. This meant that their country was finally going to join a war they had promised years ago they would never join! Katara felt angry – she had sent her brother to war once, she wasn't ready to do it again. She turned to see Zuko's stunned expression; he and her brother were once the best of friends, despite her brother's warning of harming him in every way possible if he hurt his baby sister. He, Aang and Sokka were so close and the girls couldn't be happier to see that their boyfriends were as close as they were. His hand gripped the arm rest so tightly that Katara could see his veins bursting through his pale skin. She tentatively reached for his clenched hand and placed her cool fingers over his wrist. His face was rigid, no movement of any muscle of any kind. Katara sometimes forgot that Sokka, Aang and Zuko were once as close as she, Suki and Toph were now. She felt him relax under her touch and inched his hand back to grasp her soft touch in his rougher one. No one spoke for a long time; Toph was still crying silent tears and Aang was trying to comfort her while Zuko was still clutching Katara's hand – they didn't know who was trying to help whom but all they knew is that in this moment that they were together all they could do was hope for the best.

Some time later the group heard footsteps on the stairs – someone was coming down. Toph immediately wiped the tears off her cheeks and Aang gave her a hug before they both stood up. Zuko snatched his hand from Katara's grasp and stood up, rigid; Katara got up slowly and went to stand next to Zuko, she didn't miss the tiny step he took to be closer to her. Sokka came into the room looking as if he had aged ten years during his talk with Suki. He walked towards Katara and she noticed just how tired he looked.

"Brother? Is Suki ok? Are you ok?" Sokka hung his head low, averting his eyes from her gaze. He slumped down into the seat Katara had previously occupied. Toph looked up at the ceiling and muttered something to Aang before leaving the room. Katara guessed that she was going to check up on Suki.

"Sokka? Do you want anything?" Aang asked him while putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Sokka solemnly shook his head. Katara could see his eyes brimming with tears, but she knew that she couldn't do anything to comfort him. Sokka was always the joker of the group – he always had joke ready, or a pun to make at just the right moment to avoid any awkward or unbearable situations. Katara knew her brother used his humour as a defence mechanism, and it was the only thing that got him through the war. She had heard his old army buddies talk about Sokka; he might not had won the war which raged world-wide but he had won many battles. It was his courage and his determination that led his troops to victory; it was his carefully strategic plans and, not always, well crafted battle plans that persevered; but mostly, it was his light-hearted nature, his kindness, his wisdom (Katara always doubted this part, she could never see her brother as wise) and his ability to lighten the mood at the right time that kept his troops going. He was always quick with a joke – he was always the soul of the group. He was guided by his empathetic nature – although at times his empathetic nature changed to overprotective brother around Katara. He had the ability to make people feel good which made him a valuable captain. He was a valuable member of the group and really important to Katara, he might have been her brother by blood but he was her best friend by choice.

Some time elapsed where Zuko, Sokka, Aang and Katara just stood in silence before they heard the floorboard creaking. Katara recognized two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs. Sokka immediately got up and pushed past Zuko,

"Suki?" His eyes had a feral look; Katara had only seen it once before when Suki told him that they couldn't be together because of his obvious attachment to Yue. Toph led Suki into the room, holding her hand in support. Sokka went to his wife and clutched her hand in his and pulled it toward his chest. "Suki, are you ok?" Suki managed a nod. Toph let go of her hand and went to Aang who put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "Listen, we'll take the kids and go home. We have to tell them where I'm going in two months."

"But… Sokka, their real family…" Suki's eyes brimmed with tears. Sokka's face became stern.

"We are their family now. They have to learn to trust us. They know what happened to their biological parents but…" His voice trailed off. Suki took his other hand and looked him in the eye.

"It won't happen to you. You'll be gone for two years but you will come back. You always do." Sokka nodded wordlessly. Katara slipped out of the room and went upstairs to recall all the cousins.

The dinner never happened, but for once, Toph wasn't upset or angry about that. She redirected her rage and hurt to the government who was tearing her family apart. That night she sat next to Aang who was feeding one of the babies. He gently took her hand guided her hand over the bottle so that she ended up feeding the baby with him supervising. Her thoughts turned to Sokka and Suki's family and what they were doing this very minute

* * *

Sokka sighed as he tucked the twins in bed; after he and Suki had told the kids about his tour abroad, the twins started crying while Ikem and Kenzo remained silent. It took all of his and Suki's efforts to comfort the twins so when bedtime came, he was exhausted. After kissing both his sons on the forehead, he passed by Ikem's room; the boy was sitting at his desk leafing aimlessly through a book. Sokka could never read him and right now, he needed to read him more than ever. Ikem was always the flight risk – he was the one Sokka worried about most. He and Kenzo were found in despicable circumstances at the orphanage in the lower boroughs. The boys were used as practically slaves while girls over a certain age were sold to the highest bidder. The seedy underbelly of the Country lay in the lower boroughs and every time Sokka thought about the time Suki and he saved their kids from that wretched place, he wanted to throw up. It disgusted him to see what had happened to the kids who were sent there – thankfully Toph took over after he told them the story and it was now a much better place.

He sighed as he walked down the stairs to his very pregnant wife.

"Hey." He curled up next to her.

"Can you leave after I give birth?"

"I probably will be leaving after you give birth. You only have like a month and half to go." Suki nodded. She leaned over for the remote and turned on the TV for mindless drabble while she lay comfortably with her husband. Sokka stiffened underneath her and when she glanced at the TV, she saw why. A picture of Yue was placed on the right hand side of the TV presenter. A moment later the picture changed and its place was a grainy video. Neither of them could make out what it was meant to be at first and then both expressions on their faces changed from confused to horror. The video was the message the extremists had sent to the government – Yue's execution was made public. Suki immediately switched off the television and put a protective arm around her husband; there was nothing she could do to comfort him. She could feel his body trembling, the silent tears seeping into her clothes and she knew that in that moment, her husband was forever changed.


	15. Chapter 15

Katara's thoughts were elsewhere the whole day she was coaching. She couldn't get it out of her mind that her brother was going back to war; what would happen to Suki? The kids – he had kids now! Katara's train of thought was so muddled that even she got confused as to what she was thinking of in that moment. There was so much she relied on her brother for – she never had to ask for his help, he was just always… there. When she was pregnant, it was pride that prevented her from seeking her family's help; but now she realized that, without her friends (whom she had come to see as family over the years) were a major help and she regretted not having sought them before. As she drove home in the dark she flashbacked to six years ago when she was alone with her brother in the car, on a similar road, in the dark; he was telling her he had just been conscripted.

_"__Katara, I need to tell you something." Sokka's eyes flitted from watching the road to watching her fumble on the stereo for a good station. Katara just sighed – Sokka would probably talk to her about University again and how she was to avoid all the party scenes. She snorted – Zuko wasn't that kind of guy and, even if he was, Katara had already had her fill of freshman parties from when she used to sneak out of the house with her friends from school on multiple Friday nights. "Kat?" Sokka tried to get her attention but she was too focused on the radio. "Katara." His voice had a hint of urgency to it as he took a hand of the steering wheel to grasp her fumbling fingers. She looked up to see her brother frowning at the road; something was wrong, Sokka was never a touchy-feely type of guy and here he was holding her hand out of his own free will._

_"__Sokka, what's wrong?" _

_"__I've been called up." That was all he said. At first, Katara was confused and just as she was about to ask him what he meant, it dawned on her. Her brother had joined the army right out of school so he could pay for the University fees. There was a chance he could be called up, but Katara always thought it was small._

_"__But…but… you're still in school." _

_"__Yeah, but the army always comes first – and since they're paying…" his voice trailed off. 'Since they're paying for his fees they think they can use him' Katara thought angrily. She saw her brother's fleeting look through her peripheral vision and saw that his eyes were full of concern. He wasn't worried about joining a war that was hated by many, he was worried about her reaction! Sokka was never the type to get all sentimental, or worry about his sister's feelings; this time, it was different. He knew that Katara worried about him, and this would make her worry even more. _

_"__So… when are you going?"_

_"__I leave Monday."_

_"__So soon?" Sokka didn't reply – for once, he didn't have a witty, sarcastic, or even nonsensical answer to her question. He fully understood the gravity of the situation and was aware that one wrong move on his part could set Katara off. "Have you told Toph and Aang?" Zuko would probably already know._

_"__I told Aang when I told Zuko. I met them for coffee right after I got the call."_

_"__Toph?" _

_"__Aang told me he should be the one to tell her. He's scared she's going to beat me up so that I can't make it into registration on Monday." Katara smiled; this was a possibility. Perhaps she could recruit Toph's expertise… "Don't you even think about it!" Sokka warned – however, he couldn't help but grin._

Katara made it back to the house without crying. She saw Jet's car in the driveway and her heart sunk – it's not that she didn't want to see him, but she didn't want to explain today's events to him. She pulled the hand break up a bit more forcefully than needed and the car groaned in protest. She sighed as she opened the door at the same time Jet did – she needed to be alone today and somehow, Jet was going to have to listen to her.

"Hey babe." Jet leaned in to kiss her but Katara leaned back. Frowning, Jet put a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" Katara sighed and thought about where to begin. Her mind was a rollercoaster right now; she was feeling so many emotions and wanted to say so many things to him but apathy won. She just wanted to curl up on the couch and watch trash TV while trying not to think of her brother and his family.

"Jet, listen, I just want to be alone tonight." She winced as his hand flexed on her shoulder.

"Are you ok?" She wasn't going to get away with just that, she needed to tell him more.

"My brother… he's going through something and I need to be alone tonight to think about how I can help him."

"Maybe I can help?"

"You know I would ask you for help, if I knew you could give it. But this is a family affair and I really don't want to mix you up in it." Still frowning, Jet removed his hand from her shoulder – Katara rolled her shoulder blade trying to relax her muscles.

"Ok, if you need anything, just text me and I'll be right over." Katara nodded and this time, when Jet leaned in for a kiss, she gave in.

* * *

Home… over the years Katara had tried to make the house a home for her and Kya. Today, her home was her only source of comfort. Sokka had asked Katara whether it would be ok if Kya could spend some time at their house – the twins were going through a difficult period and he believed Kya could help. She sunk into the worn couch and turned on the TV; it was once again dominated by the creed of war the King had issued in retaliation to his daughter's death. She immediately changed the channel to cable where she was soon swept into a world of celebrity dancing, overweight children pageant winners, and rich kids living by the beach who had way too much drama in their life. She was soon woken from the lull of mind-numbing, trash TV by a text message alert. She contemplated leaving her comfortable position on the couch in lieu of checking the message but she was worried in case any-one in her family needed her help. Aang had told her that Toph hadn't been alright since she heart about Sokka; she was constantly crying, had migraines and even fainted before leaving for work. It had been a week since Sokka received the news of his conscription and Aang had said that Toph hadn't slept since. It was hard to imagine that such a tough girl was susceptible to such fragility. Normally, it would have been Katara who would have broken down by now, but she felt too numb to feel anything. Her routine was wake up, go to work, come home and watch TV and sleep; repeat. She was in constant communication with Aang in case Toph needed anything, and in constant communication with Sokka who was worried about Suki because she was acting very strange.

She clambered off the couch and shuffled toward her phone. When she saw the recipient, she groaned; Zuko had tried to communicate with her since they found out about her brother, but she never replied. Without even opening the message, she pressed delete and walked back to the couch and resumed her position. A few minutes later the door rang; Katara groaned really loudly and covered her ears. A couple of seconds later the doorbell rang again, this time the person was relentless and wouldn't stop.

"No one's home!" Katara yelled and put a pillow over her ears to drown out the incessant noise. The person persisted. Katara pulled herself from the couch and muttered all the curse words she knew until she reached the door. She peeped through the peephole and groaned again, loudly so that the person outside could hear. All she heard was a chuckle from the other side of the door.

"What do you want?" She said aggressively as she wrenched the door open.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Before Katara could extend the invitation the guest walked past her and into the small hallway.

"Come right in." Katara muttered sarcastically as she shut the door.

"We need to talk." Katara sat cross legged on the couch, muted the TV and hugged the pillow she had previously used to muffle the sounds of the doorbell. Her guest sat down in a barcalounger opposite her.

"Did Zuko send you to be his messenger?"

"No, my nephew thinks I've gone out to pick a certain type of tea leaf that is most potent when picked at night time." Katara snorted.

"Idiot." She muttered. The old man sitting opposite her just smiled and pretended not to hear her insult his nephew.

"Katara, you and I go way back. I remember when I first met you I knew that you and my nephew were meant to be. You two were perfect…" Katara didn't have time to hear about how great she and Zuko were. Rather, she didn't have the patience – she had ample time to waste and the old man knew it.

"Sir, no. Don't talk about how great your nephew and I were together. After all, I knew how great we were, I love him and I gave him a chance so many years to show me what our relationship meant to him. He was an idiot, and believed his father… his father! I spent hours trying to convince Zuko that his father was, deep down, a kind man who loved his family dearly. Well, this is the result of me sticking my nose where it doesn't belong." Iroh smiled at the slip of her tongue – she still loved her nephew and that was enough for him. He saw the pain his nephew had caused, years later, etched on her face. She was a beautiful girl indeed and smart and bright; however, because of his nephew she looked older, had worry lines all over her forehead, and let her smartness and talent waste away as she coached a team she longed to be a part of. This wasn't the same girl who years ago had argued with Iroh every time she was there about politics; this girl had a different dream now – instead of changing the world she had made her daughter her whole world. Years ago Katara was training to be a doctor, where she one day hoped to join Doctors Without Borders; now the only things she healed were cuts and scrapes on her daughter's legs. The girl sitting in front of him once had a diving scholarship to one of the best universities in the country where sponsors were practically throwing money at her; now she coached a team for a measly paycheck where sponsors and fans walked all over her to get to the team. One thing, however, had yet to change; Katara had once loved Zuko with all her heart and would do anything for him – Iroh had a sneaky suspicion that had yet to change.

"Ok, I won't talk about that. But, you should reply to his messages." Katara remained silent; Iroh was right, she had to reply to his messages, he seemed really worried about her. The night before Toph's dinner party, she made a promise that she wouldn't let Zuko work his way back into her heart. She had deleted the message he had sent her and vowed to cut off all ties with him. Fate just wouldn't let them though. They were constantly thrown into a cesspool of despair and unfortunate events that would inevitably bring them closer and closer. One day they would give in to their long forgotten passion and rekindle a flame that had never gone out. Fate had concealed herself in their lives and went by many names; today, her name was Iroh. "How is your brother and his family?"

"They're fine. Kya is with them."

"You are worried." It wasn't a question.

"I don't know what to do Iroh. For the longest time I had to rely on my big brother for emotional support. He helped me raise Kya. He was always there for everyone; Suki, Aang, Toph… his kids! Now that we have to be there for him, we don't know how. Somehow along the way we've grown selfish and relied on him far too much. Now, he needs our help; we're going to have to learn to rely on ourselves." Iroh merely nodded. He knew the boy, Katara's brother, and knew that his heart was bigger than his stomach (which in the case of Sokka was something unusual). Most people saw Sokka as a joker, who made inappropriate jokes and inappropriate times; what people didn't know was that his humour was used as a defence mechanism. When their mother died, Katara had hit rock bottom and it took all of her brother's efforts to straighten her out. No one saw how much he had suffered at his mother's loss; everyone was too busy focusing on his sister, who had witnessed the crime first-hand and was deeply affected. Sokka was often overlooked and no one realised that his suffering was just as bad. And in a time of mourning, Sokka couldn't wallow – his father needed his help in reeling in Katara. He pushed back his emotions, his sorrow and his fear and became Katara's older brother. Katara never knew, and she probably never would, how her brother sacrificed his youth for her.

"Katara," the old man got up from his chair and sat on the couch next to her, "You have become just as strong as him. You know that." For a while neither of them spoke; neither knew how it happened but Katara was curled up in Iroh's embrace, fast asleep. Iroh traced a worry line on her forehead and sighed. She didn't deserve this – as much as he loved his nephew, he was still really angry at what he had done to this innocent girl. He swept her hair from her face and slowly pushed her away as he stood up. He settled her down on the couch and pulled a knitted blanket over her. He gave her a kiss on her forehead, she muttered something incoherently, and left the house quietly. His nephew was a fool.

* * *

The next day Katara woke up on the couch remembering last night's events. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the sun that was shining through the open curtains. Cursing, she pulled the blanket over her face forgetting that it was knitted and proved to be of little help in blocking out the sun.

"Stupid sun, making you believe that it's summer and by the time you get out the door you freeze to death. Horrible, horrible, horrible..." She muttered as she walked to the kitchen. Her phone rang which made her jump in alarm; she answered it despite her terrible mood. "What?" She growled.

"Hello." Katara cursed the chipper voice on the other end of the line.

"Suki, you are my best friend, my sister even, but do you have to be this chipper so early in the morning?"

"My God, what is it with you and your daughter hating mornings? We had to bribe Kya with a chocolate sundae so that she would get up."

"Suki, does this conversation have a point? I love you, and I want to hear about your day and how you think I'm a terrible parent, but I'm going to need at least two coffees."

"Make that three. Toph wants to spend a girly day today while Sokka spends some quality time with Aang." Katara added double the amount of coffee and water in the coffee filter machine and pressed start.

"Can't we just hang out with the guys? Toph's idea of a girly day is spending time in mud."

"It's a spa! And she's paid for it already. There's even a special treatment for me since I'm pregnant and can't do a lot of the things."

"Fine, what time do I have to be ready?"

"I'll pick you up in an hour." Katara snapped her phone shut and leaned on the counter in front of her coffee machine and inhaled the aroma. She smiled – this was bliss. She let the coffee maker do its business as she opened the fridge and took out her breakfast.

* * *

An hour later Katara was dressed and ready to go out with her friends. She heard a car honk in her driveway – that was Suki! She grabbed her purse and gave herself one last check in the mirror, the coffee hadn't kicked in yet so Katara was in such a state that she might have forgotten to put on trousers. Happy to see her reflection wearing all articles of appropriate clothing, jeans, a red jumper and boots, she ran down the stairs and opened her front door to see a...

"Toph!" She growled under her breath. The "car" door opened to reveal a grinning Suki and Toph.

"Toph insisted she come to pick us up." Suki explained as Katara clambered onto the plush leather seats. It took a while to get used to the huge interior and comfortable seats.

"Toph, how did you get a limousine in my driveway?"

"I don't know. I've got a really good driver."

"Do you go with this...thing to work every morning?" Suki asked as she opened the fridge which she had just spied next to Katara.

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't take this thing out over the bridge – today was an exception. My best friend lives in the middle borough and I wanted to treat you all to a nice day."

"Where are the guys going?" Katara joined Suki on the floor and examined the contents of the fridge.

"I don't know." Toph shrugged.

"Sokka told me they were going to play golf at the club and then go for lunch and then drinks."

"See! I told Aang that our club membership would come in handy."

"Hold on! Sokka, my brother, is going to GOLF?" Katara imagined her brother holding a golf club and trying to hit the tiny ball. For some reason the image made her laugh uncontrollably.

"That's my husband you're talking about."

"He's my brother... I can make fun of him."

"True."

"Katara, Kya wanted me to give you a kiss, but I'd rather not. So just tell her I relayed the message." Katara laughed.

"Ok. How is she?"

"Well, she's been a real help to Suki, from what I understand. She keeps the twins busy so they aren't constantly thinking about their father leaving soon."

"I'm more worried about my other boys. Ikem is being more distant than usual and Kenzo... well he goes to the library a lot and spends a lot of time studying."

"Listen Suki, if it's one think I know about my nephews is that they love you and my brother so much."

"True." Toph interrupted.

"And it will take an adjustment period. They will realise life goes on. You have to realise that too."

Before Suki could reply the limo stopped and Katara heard the driver open walking over gravel to open the door for them.

"Thank you." The three girls chorused as they climbed out. After Toph gave him a few instructions on what to do, they made their way into the spa. Katara gasped at the beautiful interior; everything was made of marble and the hosts were dressed in white with a coloured apron depending on which department they were in. Suki led Toph to the counter where the woman, at least in Katara's opinion, was too smiley, bordering on creepy. A bored voice greeted her from behind; Katara jumped in shock but Toph and Suki seemed unfazed.

"Hey Mai. Are the other two girls with you?"

"Here!" Two girls chorused; one voice was bubbly and excited while the other sounded high and bored.

"Ok, the reservation is under Toph BeiFong, party of six?" The woman nodded and beckoned them to follow her. Katara was in front of the little group, deep in thought. If Mai was here, that meant Zuko was with the guys... this was going to be interesting.

"Katara." The blue-eyed girl double-backed to walk with Mai. "Zuko's worried about you."

"Mai listen..."

"No, I don't want to ruin our day. Toph was really generous in giving us all a mini holiday, and you deserve this. I don't want to pester you. But if Zuko asks, just tell him I talked to you about it ok?" Katara nodded. They continued walking in silence, following the hostess who was telling the other girls all about the treatment they were about to receive today. Katara heard words like sauna...seaweed wrap...hair mask...pedicure...manicure...reflexology...hot stones... and other words which she drowned out as her thoughts turned to a certain golden-eyed man and was wondering what he was doing this very second.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"Sokka, you hold the club like this." Zuko sighed as he walked over to the blue-eyed man once more to show him the proper way of holding a club. Aang was watching them from the other hole and laughing. Sokka was still on the first hole, and Zuko doubted he would progress any further until lunch. Sokka grabbed hold of the club, stuck his tongue out as he practiced the swishing move Zuko toughed him and finally aimed for the tiny golf ball – which he missed. Zuko slapped his forehead with his palm. Wordlessly, he shoved Sokka away from the ball and poised his golf club in a perfect position and swung – the ball landed in the hole in one movement.

"Well this is my first time! I don't golf with work buddies talking about impending world doom." Sokka stuck his tongue out at Zuko childishly.

"We don't talk about world doom."

"You're a politician! You guys are always talking about how the world is going to come to an end." Zuko pondered this for a while; he couldn't disagree. He had spent many hours in this same golf course talking with other politicians how the world was changing, and sometimes, it wasn't for the better.

"Sokka, focus on the ball. Our target is to get you on the 5th hole by lunch time."

"But…but…that's two hours away!"

"I know, but I calculated time for you to rest as well." Aang was clearly getting bored waiting for them at the second hole so he walked over to the two boys.

"Rest…what?" He asked, obviously out of the loop.

"Zuko is giving me only two hours to shoot 5 holes!" Aang looked at Zuko shocked – Zuko just closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Er…Sokka, that's enough time to get in at least ten holes. This golf course is designed in such a way that makes it easier on new comers, such as yourself."

"But…but…!" Soka sputtered. Aang could feel Zuko's temper rising with his impatience.

"Zuko, down boy." He turned to Sokka. "Listen Sokka, you have to think that the club is a part of you, an extention of your arm."

"Like my sword."

"Yes, like your sword." Sokka grinned and immediately gripped his club in the correct place and adopted the right stance. Zuko, who was watching without saying anything, looked impressed. Sokka concentrated on the ball, practiced a few swings before he hit the ball. The three men cheered as the ball landed, relatively, close to the hole.

"Good, now we can gossip!" Aang said as they all picked up their golf bags and walked to where the ball landed. Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose – this was going to be a long day.

~*~ MEANWHILE ~*~

"I still maintain Casablanca is the best love story." Ty Lee argued.

"Moulin Rouge." Suki quipped.

"You're both wrong – both films do not have a happy ending for the two lovers! The Notebook."

"Toph! That doesn't have a happy ending either!" Suki said.

"Yeah it does. They end up together don't they?"

"Yeah, they also die together." Ty Lee sounded sad.

"But that's what makes it great! They went through so much, still ended up together. They were so in love that they died at the end."

"Whatever. Mai, what's your favourite romance film?" Ty Lee turned to the pale beauty sitting next to her.

"Gone with the Wind. Scarlett O'Hara is a role model for any young woman."

"You think so?" Katara scrunched up her nose. "I didn't like her. She seemed too…"

"Fake? Bossy?" Azula offered.

"No. I mean, her personality was so dominating. She used her femininity to make this guy fall in love with her…"

"You can't make someone fall in love with you." Katara swore she glanced at Ty Lee when she said that.

"I think you can. If you project a different reality, a different self, that person falls in love with someone that's not really you."

"But, he's not really in love then." Suki explained. "Think about it; how many guys did we date, and ultimately started to fall for, but then we found out that they were total assholes and fake? It took us a while to get over the breakup but not because we were so in love with them that we just couldn't get passed it. It took a while to get over the mistrust we felt and the feeling of being duped."

"I agree. I went out with this guy who was so fake, he started losing track of all the lies. I thought I was in love with him, but it turns out I just felt so bad because I was lied to and I hated that." Katara had to agree with Toph; she remembered that relationship clearly.

"But sometimes you fall in love with their real self and realize that their true nature was what you didn't want to fall in love with." Katara spoke out loud without knowing it. The girls all remained silent while the spa women worked on their nails.

After a while Azula broke the silence, "Beauty and the Beast. For obvious reasons, it's even in the title!" She grinned at the girls who all burst out laughing – even Katara.

"Seriously? You think Beauty and the Beast is the best romance film?" Suki asked.

"Well… I won't lie, the beast does make the film more attractive. Just think of what he could do to you after all those years of being a monster." Azula sighed happily. The girls all grinned. "But no…no… I do have to admit that my favourite love story is… Titanic."

"That's depressing." Suki said.

"Your protagonist dies of TB, mine dies of hypothermia. Big difference."

"Have you noticed that all our films have a tragic ending?" Ty Lee looked at each girl expectantly.

"Mine doesn't." Toph raised a hand which made the manicurist tut.

"Toph, the Notebook, although a great romance story, does not have a happy ending. They die." Azula turned to the blind girl.

"But they die old!" Toph defended her favourite romance movie.

"The girl gets amnesia!"

"Whatever. Go back to your beast and leave me be with one of the hottest protagonists of TV." There was a silence to which Toph blew a raspberry, "Guys, I may be blind, but I know when a guy is hot by his VOICE!" The girls laughed.

After the laughter died down, Mai turned to Katara.

"What's your favourite love story?" Katara scrunched her nose as she thought of all the romance films she had seen.

"I don't really have one." The group of girls immediately all started protesting, 'come on, surely you do'… 'you can't be serious'… 'you lie'… was heard. Katara threw up her hands in defeat, "Ok ok! I'll have to go with…Persuasion."

"That's a book." Toph pointed out.

"It's also a film. The BBC made it into a film quite some time ago."

"Why Persuasion? I remember reading the book, it wasn't anything special. Pride and Prejudice is so much better." Suki sighed dreamily as she thought of the timeless classic.

"And the film. Nothing beats a wet Colin Firth." Azula wagged her eyes suggestively at Katara who burst out laughed.

"Azula, I will agree with you about Colin Firth but Suki… I can't agree with you that Pride and Prejudice is better because I really do prefer Persuasion. He waits for her for eight years!"

"Yeah but… from what I remember, and bear in mind I read this book a long time ago, she was persuaded by her father to leave him. Which idiot does that?"

"Azula, it was different time then. She had to follow her father's orders despite what she felt. If two hearts still beat as one, despite being apart for eight years, then… then nothing can get in the way of that love.

"You forget though that Wentworth was trolling around for a wife even though Anne was right there!"

"Suki, he was hurt! He thought Anne didn't love him."

"Oh come off it, that's bullshit, and you know it. You know when the other person is in love with you – it was obvious."

"Yeah but sometimes the hurt is just too much and you can't stand being hurt again." Katara felt Mai's gaze concentrated on her but she shrugged it off as just interest in the conversation.

"I've never read the book, but do you think someone can still be in love with an old flame even years later?" Toph quipped.

"No. I think time apart makes you realize that you just weren't meant to be. I mean, if you were apart for eight years, or even a couple of years, and you didn't try to find the other person, or get in contact with them, then it's just not meant to be."

"I see what Azula is saying," Ty Lee point to the girl, "But I don't fully agree. Maybe circumstances kept them apart and they just didn't have the means of communicating. What kept this…Anne? And Wentworth apart?"

"He was off fighting in a war. Times were different then, you had to send letters and he was so ashamed of what her family thought of him that he tried to make his fortune in the war. I agree with Ty Lee. I think it depends on the circumstances." Suki leaned back in her chair.

"I think that if you're thinking of getting together after all those years you just remember the good parts, you forget the reason you broke up. So, if you do get back together, you'll just end up in a vicious cycle." Toph added.

"I don't think the love after all those years is ever going to be the same. I mean, every year we change, our personalities evolve. After so many years you're not in love with the same person. You can love what was, but there is no saying what will be. You have to work at it. Anne and Wentworth didn't just decide to get together – they realized that they had evolved into people that they were still in love with. That's rare." Katara was speaking to the group but her mind was elsewhere. She was thinking about a love so powerful that it transcended through the years, on hiatus, until the two souls finally found each other. She wasn't big on love stories, she preferred a crime thriller over a romance movie any day, but the girls had brought up a good question. Was love between two people who once loved each other so much still possible after all these years? She couldn't shake the image of Zuko out of her mind… When she looked up she saw Mai looking at her with a smile while the others were still debating the question Toph had put forth. Mai knew what she was thinking… as if both recognizing the recognition of the other, they nodded. In that second they sealed a wordless pact; Zuko and Katara were meant to be together… and Mai was going to help them despite Katara's protests.

~*~ Lunchtime at the country club ~*~

"Ten holes Zuko, ten!" Sokka taunted as they sat down for lunch. Zuko sighed once more – Sokka hadn't stopped saying the same phrase over and over again since Aang called a break for lunch.

"Ok you can stop it now." He hissed. Sokka smirked at him as he picked up his napkin and folded it over his lap. He stole another napkin from the nearby table and stuffed the corner in his shirt while the rest of it covered his front. Zuko bent his head in embarrassment as Aang did the same. This club was notoriously known for its stuffy patrons and did not accept any childlike behaviour. The waiter came over, took their orders and left; as he passed the nearby table he noticed two napkins missing from the pristine layout. He called for the busboy, who looked scared.

"This is unacceptable! Imagine if I had seated someone here and they noticed that two napkins were missing!" Sokka and Aang looked at each other, eyes wide. "Fix this immediately or else it'll be your job!" The boys hung their head low, trying not to get noticed, and put their hands on the side of their face to shield their guilty expressions. After the busboy had set up the table, they relaxed.

"So… Zuko, when are you and Mai getting married?" Zuko choked on the gulp of water he just happened to be taking when Aang asked his question.

"The wedding is definitely on?" Sokka asked.

"Guys, can we please not talk about this?"

"Nu uh. You think the girls aren't talking about us? Plus, we didn't get to gossip out on the green, you and Sokka were talking politics again."

"What about my sister? And I'm not going all over-protective-brother on you. I'm asking as one of your best friends. I thought… I don't know, I thought you love her."

"I do Sokka, I mean… I want to be with her, but it's not that easy."

"Why? You go up to her and say, Katara, I love you, let's go practice making babies." Sokka and Zuko stared at the young bold man. Aang just stared at Zuko.

"Aang, it's not that easy. Katara and I have a history."

"Makes it all the more easier to just go up to her and plant her a big wet one."

"Aang!" Sokka gave him a disgusted look.

"As appealing as that sounds," Sokka shot him a glare, "I can't. I already tried to talk to her about getting back together, but she always manages to squirm out of talking about it. She won't even reply to my message."

"Well, she's been in a funk ever since she heard about my transfer." Sokka eyed his glass of water moodily.

"Speaking of, when do you ship out?" Aang turned to his best friend.

"A month and a bit. I really hope I get to see Suki give birth."

"Aw man, I'm sure you'll be there. Isn't she due any moment now?"

"Three weeks."

"I can't believe Suki is going to go through with a natural birth. Toph did it and man was it painful."

"I know! And she wants to do without any medicine in case it harms the baby." Aang looked confused.

"I didn't mean it was painful for her, I meant it was painful for me!" Two pairs of eyes gave him an incredulous look. "Hey, don't look at me that way. Sokka, we're married to really strong women, I don't think you get how strong! When Toph was giving birth, she broke my hand squeezing it."

"Aang, seriously? Your wife just gave birth to your daughter."

"Hey! You're not married. Mai is daintier than Toph and Suki, I'm sure she'll be even daintier when giving birth to mini Zuko. Toph was insane!"

"Well, I'm going to be there for Suki, no matter what."

"That's what I said before Toph broke my hand…twice!" Aang held up two fingers as if to make his point even more valid.

"Wuss."

"I really want to be there when Suki is giving birth, just so I can see the hell you're going to go through."

"Hey! I am going to be there for my wife. She can break every bone in my body if it means that I get to alleviate some of the pain from her!" Zuko was impressed with Sokka, he didn't have him pegged for that kind of guy.

"Well, whatever you do, don't tell Toph. She already thinks you love Suki more than I love her."

"Well, that's cause you don't know how to act around women."

"Toph is not your typical woman! I once brought her flowers for her birthday and she got really angry for some reason. Then another time I decided to surprise her with a really nice dinner for our anniversary and she was angry because she wanted to go see the new Nicholas Sparks movie in the cinema. So one year I decided to not plan anything, AND SHE GOT ANGRY!"

"Women." Sokka mused.

"Women." Zuko muttered.

"Also, I've been looking forward to witnessing someone give birth. I didn't get to do that with Toph or Katara – Suki is my last chance!"

"Wait…what?" Zuko spoke – two pairs of eyes turned toward him. "You weren't there when your sister gave birth?"

"No…" Sokka glanced at Aang and then looked back at Zuko, "No one was there. We didn't even know she was giving birth then."

"Hold on, your sister was alone in the delivery room?" Sokka and Aang nodded. "Where did she give birth?"

"In a clinic in the lower boroughs I think. She was always vague about Kya's birth and the time she spent living in the lower boroughs."

"How come?"

"Well, Toph and I were travelling so I could get my thesis. We were out of the country for three years and Sokka was stationed with Suki in another county."

"So she was alone?"

"She refused to come with us. I even used my brother authority. She didn't want to worry us and I thought everything was ok." Sokka could see that Zuko was judging him and Aang. Somehow, he felt that he should have been angry, if anyone was to be judged, it was Zuko; but Sokka was calm and when he spoke, he made sure to be the least bit threatening. "Listen Zuko, that period was tough on all of us. There were many external factors that were not in Katara's favour. We should have tried harder, I know, but I trusted my sister. I still do, but if it has to do with her health, or situation, I always take what she says with a pinch of salt."

"Sorry." Zuko apologized; he realized that he had made Sokka and Aang feel bad. He used his anger toward them as a mask to hide his shame. He had to make it up to Katara, and to his friends, somehow. Even if Katara was with Jet – even if she never wanted to see him again, Zuko knew that he needed to put things right with Katara, no matter the cost.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: I LOVE ALL OF YOU WHO ARE REVIEWING/FAVOURITING/FOLLOWING! You guys are seriously the best!

This chapter is dedicated to **lovedusktodawn **who wanted more Zutara action. This chapter is FULL of it. Wait until the next one too ;)

**Angel swimming **haha! I continue to write for people who read but don't review or follow (they have all my love and my thanks as much as anyone) BUT it is nice to hear how much you like it. Thanks!

**Moon Stars and Fast Cars & Demonie0603 **you are my constant and loyal reviewers! You… you are simply the best! (Also, I plan on using your pen names in my story as a testament to your loyalty ;) if you don't want it, please tell me so I don't get sued for libel. It won't be in a bad way ;) )

Chapter 17

Katara hummed as she cleaned up the table – she had come from the spa day with her friends a changed woman. She had missed having a girl's day with her friends. The kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off and Kya had weasled her way out of helping her mother clean up. Right now her little terror was in the living room watching cartoon network reruns while Katara was attempting to clear up the mess from the extravagant dinner they had just cooked and the deserts they had made for tomorrow's bake sale. Just as she about to start clearing the table, the doorbell rang. Puzzled, Katara peeped through the peephole and sighed – she didn't want to open the door but she knew that the person on the other side of the door wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Hello Zuko." Zuko noted the tiredeness in her voice. Hadn't she just spent a day at the spa with her friends? Mai said they had a really good time.

"Hey Katara, can I come in?" Katara didn't say anything; she just opened the door wider. Zuko took this as an invitation and stepped in. Kya had come to see who was at the door; when she saw Zuko her face lit up.

"ZUKO!" She ran up to him and hugged him around the legs, it was all she could reach. Zuko laughed and bent over to give her a kiss on the forehead.

"Hello darling! How are you?"

"I'm fine! I came back from Uncle Sokka's because mummy missed me." Two pairs of golden eyes turned to Katara.

"What? She's been there for a week. Although, after you see the state of the kitchen, you'll see why I now regret bringing her back." Kya protested her mother's words while Zuko laughed.

"Ok little tyke, go back into the living room. Zuko can come with you, I have to clean the kitchen." Kya took Zuko's hand and dragged him into the living room; Katara stared after them with a slight smile on her face. She shook her head and went to kitchen trying to decide where to begin. A few moments later she heard a light knock on the door and saw Zuko standing in the doorway. She smiled and beckoned him in; Zuko had taken one look at the kitchen and the look on his face was priceless. Katara knew that he probably had never seen his kitchen in this state – he was always looked after by housekeepers.

"I told Kya that I would come help you – she only let me come if I promised to watch a movie with her and then tuck her in."

"Not the Little Mermaid again?"

"Nope. She said we can pick it together." Katara laughed. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"Just sit there and keep me company." Katara smiled at him; Zuko made a mental note to take a really cold shower when he went home.

Instead of sitting down, like Katara instructed, he took off his coat and put it on a chair, rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and started stacking up the dirty plates that were on the table and took them to the sink. Katara turned on the tap and attempted to pry the plates from Zuko's grip.

"Nu-uh. You sit at the table and keep me company. Make some hot chocolate so we can eat with the vanilla cake you and Kya made – we'll take it to the living room and eat all together." Katara raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything. She walked to the living room door and peeked in; after making sure that Kya was okay alone in the living room she went back to the kitchen. She tried to supress a giggle, but failed, when she saw what was happening. Zuko was wearing an apron Sokka had given her for mother's day last year, and looked ridiculous; he was rinsing the plates and putting them in the dishwasher. Katara took out a chair, as silently as she could, and just watched Zuko hum as he loaded the dishwasher. A few moments later, he stopped humming and turned around, grinning.

"Enjoying the show?" Katara smiled.

"Yes, I've never seen you so…" She got up and stood in front of him, "housewife-y" Zuko laughed.

"Housewife-y? Is that even a word?"

"No… but it should become one so that there's a word to describe what you look like right now." Zuko turned around and continued clearing the plates up while Katara started making the hot chocolate and cut three slices of the vanilla cake she had made with Kya.

When Zuko was done he took a wettex from the sink and soaked in water before he started wiping the counters down. Katara was impressed – the man in front of her had never done a day's work of housecleaning and here he was turning her kitchen from disaster to photo-shoot-ready. She put the hot chocolate and three mugs on a tray, along with three plates of vanilla cake and waited until Zuko had put the finishing touches to the kitchen; he was now sweeping.

"Zuko, you can leave some dirt. Anyway, tomorrow it's just going to get dirty again." Zuko just grinned.

"Mummy! I want cake." Kya came barreling into the kitchen – he purple robe wide open and billowing in her wake, revealing her frilly pyjamas. Her hair was out of its usual ponytail and all over the place (this, Katara mused, she got from her father).

"Ok Kya honey, just wait. Zuko helped mummy clean the kitchen. We'll be in the living room in a bit."

"Can I help?" Katara looked at her daughter suspiciously; Kya never wanted to help clean the kitchen. In fact, her daughter went to great lengths to avoid any type of cleaning.

"All done!" Zuko came back in from the back door where he was disposing of the garbage. Kya took one look at his pink apron and squealed with laughter. Zuko raised an eyebrow at her and turned to Katara who just shrugged her shoulders.

"You look like a mummy!" Katara rolled her eyes, picked up the tray and guided her daughter back into the living room.

"Come on little monster, back into the living room." She set the tray down on the coffee table and sat in her usual spot on the couch. Zuko came in a few moments later, apronless, and sat down next to Kya.

"What are we watching?" he asked the little girl.

"Beauty and the beast?" For some reason, unbeknownst to Zuko and Kya, Katara burst out laughing. "Why is that funny mummy?"

"Oh nothing honey. I'm up for watching whatever you want."

"I'm up for beauty and the beast." Zuko said and Katara giggled once more. This time no one said anything but Zuko did give her a questioning glance.

They ate their cake in silence and drank their hot chocolate until the first song came on. Zuko wasn't used to movie nights in Katara's house and was, to say the least, shocked when Kya and Katara started belting out the songs along with the character. They knew all the lyrics and, at times, they would recite the script with the actors. Zuko came to the conclusion that the two women he loved most in his life were two things: crazy and movie obsessed. At some point in the film Kya had fallen asleep in between her two parents. When the film was over Katara tried to coax her to wake up.

"Why are you waking her up?" Zuko whispered.

"Because I'm too tired to lift her up all those stairs." She whispered back. Zuko just looked at Kya, and without saying anything, he swept her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs as if she weighed nothing. Katara followed him up the stairs and helped him tuck her in.

"Night Kya." Zuko whispered as he tucked the blanket around her. He smoothed her hair and bent over to kiss her forehead. Katara followed suit and then tiptoed out of the room.

"Tea?" She asked. Zuko shook his head.

"If Kya isn't with us, I don't trust myself around you." Katara looked at him strangely. "I don't think you understand how attracted I am to you." Katara blushed at his sentiments. "So until we decide where we stand, I think I have to have my meetings with you supervised."

"Ok." Katara didn't know what else to say. Zuko had confessed he was attracted to her and couldn't be around her unsupervised. Was she attracted to him? The answer was obvious, but Katara pushed it to the back of her mind. She wasn't ready to go down this road again with Zuko; he was fire, she was water… opposite elements never attracted. As she bade him goodbye, the parting handshake sent shivers down her arm. She watched as he climbed into his car and drove away. As she sat down on the couch to watch the evening news she had missed, she mused over the day's events. She had become closer with Mai during the spa treatments – both girls were unused to being pampered and showered with so much attention. They bonded over the ridiculousness of seaweed wraps (Katara thought it was a waste of perfectly good nori while Mai thought the idea of being unable to use her limbs for more than five minutes was horrible) and their averseness to having someone rub them in oil and massage them. She found the conversation during the mani-pedi session quite refreshing – she had missed having girl talk sessions with her friends about the most obscure things. She missed being able to talk freely about boys as if they were teenagers again, make sexual innuendoes that rendered them into giggling, blushing schoolgirls and talking about the meaning of their life in a way that great philosophers like Socrates and Descartes would find appalling. She tried to concentrate on the news but she found her thoughts constantly reverted back to a certain messy haired, golden eyed man. Oh the joys of adulthood.

* * *

The next day as Katara was getting ready to go on a date with Jet, Kya came barreling into her room. Her hair was still damp from her shower.

"Mummy, I have some serious news to tell you." Katara smiled at the serious expression on the little girl's face.

"What is it?" She turned to the mirror and checked that her hair and makeup was ok before sitting on the bed next to her daughter who was frowning at a piece of paper in her hands.

"We have exactly three weeks until Christmas. We need to do our shopping and make our house all pretty! You are spending too much time at work and with Jet that we haven't found time to decorate!" Kya pushed the piece of paper into Katara's hands. The older woman suppressed a laugh; on the paper Kya had written 3 weeks and a list of things she had to do. One the list was

- Letter to Santa

- Christmas tree

- Christmas house

- Christmas cookies

- Presents

Katara turned to her daughter,

"While I'm glad you are finally starting to write the letter correctly, you should have looked up how to spell Christmas before spelling it three different ways." Puzzled, Kya looked over Katara's shoulder to see what she had written: "Krissmass" "Chrismas" "Kristmass"

"Oh, I forgot how to spell it so I made different versions up."

"What two words did I tell you Christmas is made up of?"

"Christ and mass… like Jesus Christ and Church Mass."

"Mhm, and your daycare takes you to Church every Friday, so you pass both words every day."

"I forgot." Kya frowned. Katara pinched her daughter's lower lip and smiled.

"Aw baby, it's fine. See you spelled it the most correctly here, but you forget that Christmas has a silent t. Do you remember any other word that has a silent t?" Kya thought for a while…

"Listen?" She turned to her mother who was staring at her in admiration.

"You are so smart! I am so proud of you." Kya blushed and leaned into her mother.

"Well mummy, you're always making me write letters to grandpa and Uncle Sokka."

"Baby, being smart is all you, I deserve no praise."

"Praise?"

"Mhm. Praise is something you give someone when they do something good."

"So, you gave me praise." Katara smiled at her daughter.

"When did I give you praise?" Kya thought about it – she knew her mother was testing her.

"When you said I was smart?" Katara nodded.

"Kya, honey, listen, you are a really smart kid and really special. I want you to always remember that." Kya nodded as her mother gave her a bear hug. The sudden ring of the doorbell disturbing the comfortable silence made both girls jump. Kya followed Katara to the door and stood behind her leg peering around it to see who was ringing the bell. She jumped up when she saw Sophie.

"Sophie!" The blonde girl smiled and stretched her arms out to envelop the little girl in a hug.

"Don't I get a hug?" The man beside Sophie frowned at Kya.

"Of course you do Jet!" Kya moved from Sophie to Jet and gave him a hug.

"Atta girl." Jet smiled. As he walked into the house, he gave Katara a quick peck on the lips. "Ready babe?"

"Ready. Let me just grab my purse." Katara went into the living room and grabbed her purse. It was a bit frayed at the edges, but she didn't have the time nor the money to go and buy a new one. It was one of the few accessories she had that had a designer label and cost more than her whole wardrobe – it was also a present from Toph.

"I have a table waiting for us at La Mer." Katara laughed as Jet attempted to adopt a French accent.

"Let's go frenchy." She turned to give Kya a kiss and a hug before closing the door and following Jet to the car.

"Babe, can you drive? I wanna drink tonight." Katara nodded – Jet knew she didn't like drinking much since she couldn't handle her alcohol very well. Katara took the keys from Jet and drove them to the restaurant.

* * *

Once seated, Katara marveled at the wonderful interior of the restaurant. She and Jet didn't normally like extravagant dinners in such places, but today Jet felt like splurging since he had just signed a book contract and his advancement was pretty generous.

"This place is beautiful." Katara breathed as a waiter brought over the menus.

"Would you like to start off with something to drink?" The waiter asked.

"I'd like a beer, Corona if you have it, and the lady will have water." He turned to Katara, "Want anything else babe?" Katara hid her annoyance; he had a habit of ordering for her and then asking her what she wanted.

"No thanks, water's great." She smiled at the waiter who gave a curt bow and left. She opened the menu and perused the various foods – she tried not to choke up at the prices.

"Pick anything you want babe, my treat tonight." Jet winked at her and went back to choosing his dinner. Half the stuff on the menu Katara didn't even like – places like this were always fancy and served tiny portions. She was starving and had looked forward to eating a nice meal with her boyfriend but she realized that she would have to settle for the… she squinted at the menu… "carpaccio of Maldivian long line caught yellow fin tuna". The "yellow fin tuna" seemed a bit dubious to her but the colour of the food was irrelevant in the dim lighting of the restaurant. Anyway, anything sounded better than "Warm Mousseline of Sussex Chicken stuffed with Cave Matured Roquefort and Fresh Harvested Walnuts with a Sauce of Sorrel Hollandaise and Julienne of Russet Apples".

"What are you getting?" Jet asked.

"I'm getting the yellow fin tuna thingy. You?"

"I'm getting the 'Cannon of English Lamb stuffed with Wild Woodland Mushrooms and Truffles, imprisoned in a pastry cage with a Sauce of Wild Rowan Berries and a Plume of French Bar-le-Duc'"

"Good God, by the time you order, the kitchen will have closed." Jet laughed and took Katara's menu; he closed both menus and put them on the side of the table to signal the waiter that they were ready to order.

"Yes sir. Are you ready to order?" Jet gave him their orders. The waiter turned to Katara, "Madame, the Carpaccio of Maldivian Long Line Caught Yellow Fish Tuna is raw, you eat raw food yes?" Katara stared at him. Raw food? Not only was she going to be presented with a tiny dish, but it was going to be raw as well?

"I'll have the mousseline chicken from Sussex." Katara didn't miss the waiter's obvious disdain for the butchering of the meal's name.

"Very well madame. Anything else?" Jet ordered some starters for the both of them, again not bothering to consult with Katara until the end. When the waiter left Katara sighed with relief. Now she would could speak normally – although, she was a little suspicious of what the chicken was going to taste like; cave matured Roquefort did not sound appealing.

"Katara?" Jet whipped his head to the side and saw Mai standing there with Zuko – both were dressed in very fine clothing. They had obviously just been entertaining some guests and were about to leave.

"Mai!" Katara got up and hugged the slender girl. Zuko, who was standing next to Mai, grinned.

"Do you mind if we join you? We'll just have a quick drink." Mai pulled out a chair, without bothering for a response and grinned slyly at Jet's horrified expression. Zuko sat opposite his fiancée sporting a huge smile. The waiter came over – he seemed to know the couple's importance because Katara noticed the change in demeanour as he dealt with them.

"I'll also have desert." Mai pointed to a desert on the menu, thanked the waiter and turned to Katara. "The menus here are horrible. Tiny portions, pretentious food and snooty waiters."

"Yeah, I don't know what I ordered. Some sort of Yorkshire chicken."

"Oh, the Sussex chicken?" Zuko corrected. "That's really good!"

"Zuko and I come here to entertain politicians. They always pick this restaurant."

"Well, it is a restaurant for the bourgeoisie." Jet's tone was sarcastic. Mai and Zuko looked at him, hiding their anger very well. Katara wanted to slump in her seat, Jet was being rude for no reason.

"Oh, I totally agree with you. But since it's for the bourgeoisie, why are you here? You have ranted at least once in your column about most of the patrons here." Zuko smiled at Jet through gritted teeth. The green-eyed man stared back at him; the game was one.

* * *

Katara sighed with relief as she removed her dress. The night had gone horribly in every possible way. Jet and Zuko spent the whole night glaring daggers at each other and making comments they knew would make the other person feel uncomfortable. The tip of the ice berg was when the check came, Zuko didn't let Jet pay; Katara knew it made her date feel small and inconsequential. However, she didn't know how much she could justify Jet's anger; he had drunk a little too much (Katara suspected Zuko's presence had something to do with it), goaded Zuko in a political debate whereby he blamed Zuko's inability to deal with governmental issues in a fair and just manner (where he acted completely unreasonable since Zuko wasn't Senator yet and had nothing to do with the political affairs of the county) and then made remarks about Katara and Zuko's past (at this point Katara had already asked for the bill and cut him off sharply by talking about tomorrow's weather). To say the least, there was nothing good that Katara could find in tonight's outing. Thankfully, Mai and Zuko were indifferent to Jet's behaviour and even helped him get into the car. Zuko offered to drive them home but Katara brushed him off. As angry as she was with Jet, she was angrier at Zuko. Why, she didn't know.

She got dressed into her pyjamas, but on her fluffy white robe and walked into the living room. Kya was still up making Christmas cards. She was about to tell Kya to pack it up as it was late and she had to go to sleep, when the doorbell rang. Thankfully, Kya was too engrossed in her artwork and didn't hear it. Katara peeped through the peephole and cursed – what the hell did he want this late at night?


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Disclaimer: Same as always – DO NOT OWN A:TLA (sniff sniff)

Dear "Guest" who reviewed – I would love to use your penname but what is it? I can use the name "Guest" if you want ;)

There is a really long flashback in this chapter where we see Kya and Katara's relationship and how Katara teaches Kya to be the best person she can be. I know it's a Zutara fanfic, but to be honest, I love the Kya/Katara dynamic so much. You'll see later on why it's so important. I want to slowly build Zuko and Katara's relationship back to what it was – and that can't happen from chapter to chapter.

Also, I love soap operas and drama that happen in movies and books, and not in real life. This is the approach I'm taking with the story. There are twists and turns and things that'll make you say "oh come off it! That can't happen!" But it is my story, and it is how I enjoy writing it. There are more plot twists that in the Bold and Beautiful (well... ok, maybe that's going a bit too far). I vaguely remember all the drama from when I was a kid and my mum watched it. Anyway, enjoy the chapter ;)

Chapter 18

Zuko was standing in front of her door. She immediately went to slam it in face but his foot was in the way. Zuko pushed the door wide open.

"You choose him over me?" Katara tried to close the door again but Zuko had already come in. She quickly looked behind her hoping that Kya didn't hear his shouting.

"Keep your voice down!" She hissed. She pulled him further into the house and closed the door behind him. "Hold on…" She walked to the living room where Kya was making a masterpiece, according to her, on her arts and crafts table. She had glitter all over her face and in her hair; Katara was dreading bath-time. "Kya honey, mummy's just going to go upstairs and have a chat with one of her friends. Ok?" Kya didn't even look up from her masterpiece.

"Ok" Katara, satisfied that Kya was engrossed in her project went back to Zuko was pacing impatiently up and down the small hall.

"Well?" he demanded. Katara glared at him.

"Let's go upstairs." She led him up the stairs and into her bedroom. "Now we can talk. I don't want Kya knowing you're here." Zuko took a glance around the room and raised an eyebrow.

"Nice" He said and walked over to her bed. He sat down and picked up the book Katara had on her nightstand. She cringed, it was the book he had caught her perusing in the bookstore. He read the cover and then the blurb, one eye brow raised. "Bought it I see." Katara lunged at him and snatched the book out of his hands.

"Yes." She replied curtly and put the book on her bookshelf.

"What, Mr Hippy doesn't give you what you need?" Katara leaned against her bookshelf, crossed her arms and smiled at him,

"Oh he gives me everything I need and everything I want." Zuko shot up and walked toward her. He leaned his arm against the bookcase, towering over her,

"Oh does he now?" Katara looked into his eyes and saw them twinkling with mischief. He was so close…she was sure he could feel her pulsating heart beating a mile a minute. She gulped as Zuko licked his lips, his gaze burning intensely into her eyes. His gaze moved slowly from her eyes to her quivering lips; and then lower, "you might want to take care when folding your arms while dressed in that t-shirt." Katara followed his gaze down to her breasts and blushed. Her shirt was already low cut but when she crossed her arms across her chest she pushed them upwards thus putting them in a very precarious position. She uncrossed her arms and settled for putting her hands against the wall. Zuko smiled a half smile,

"Wrong move." And with that he had her pinned to wall with his body. His arm left the bookcase and was exploring the curves of her right hip. His other hand was gently caressing her curves through her thin t-shirt. Katara moaned as his thumb circled the sensitive areas of her body. She parted her lips letting his tongue explore her mouth. Her hands pushed against the wall thrusting her body to mould with his and then curled around his neck. She pushed him closer, deepening their kiss. Her hands moved from his neck to clutching his back. Zuko's hand deftly moved from her hips to hook her slim leg around his waist. She moved her hands back to his neck and pushed her other leg around his waists making them both stumble a little from the lack of balance. Zuko smiled against her lips and put both his hands on her buttocks and pushed her hard against the wall for support. She could feel his body heat rising and his lower body reacting positively to their kiss. Zuko nipped her lower lip and moved down to her neck, planting soft kisses along the way. He let his two front teeth graze down her throat before moving his mouth to the side of her neck. She moaned as he bit down and sucked; his tongue laving her skin leaving it hot and moist.

"Zuko…" She moaned. Zuko growled territorially and bit down a little harder. Katara sucked in a sharp intake of air and arched her back, her chest pushed against Zuko's toned torso. Fire lit up in Zuko as he felt her press into his chest.

Just as the passionate affair started, so it ended. Katara unlocked her legs from Zuko's waist and pressed them firmly on the ground. She put her hands on his chest and pushed him back. The room suddenly felt cold without his body pressed against hers.

"We have to stop." Zuko took a step closer but Katara put out a hand to stop him coming any further. "No."

"Why?" He demanded.

"Because I can't do this to Jet." Katara suddenly laughed. "You don't get it do you?"

"Don't get what?" Zuko was confused.

"I finally start having a life and you have to come in here and fuck everything up."

"I never actually got to the fucking part." Zuko said in good humour.

"Shut up. Shut up!" Katara yelled it the second time. "Get out of my house and never come back again. I don't want to see. If you come near me or my daughter…"

"Our daughter..." Zuko corrected. Katara's eyes narrowed.

"MY daughter. You left Zuko! If you come near us again I swear…" Zuko's good humour left him.

"You'll what Katara? I will fight for Kya, and you know I'll win." Tears brimmed at Katara's eyes. Her voice was low and dangerous.

"You're serious about gaining custody of Kya?"

"She's my daughter too and I'll do anything to be a part of her life." Katara balled her hands into fists. "Do you think a jury will choose you, you with your questionable past? Or do you think they'll choose me, with my family connections and me being first in the polls for Senator, any judge in their right mind would give Kya to me." Katara blinked and tears of anger ran down her cheeks.

"Those records are sealed. No judge will accept them."

"They will if I say so." Katara put her fist up ready to hit Zuko, he didn't flinch. Fist poised mid-air, Katara rethought her actions and put her hand down again.

"Why?" Her voice was barely audible. "You didn't want her when I was pregnant with her. You thought I was lying to keep you."

"I made a mistake." Zuko said calmly.

"A mistake?" She whispered. Katara close her eyes and opened them again, hoping that she was living in some sort of nightmarish dream. She brushed past Zuko and went to the door. As she was about to leave, she paused and turned back to him,

""When you left five years ago all I wanted to do was just curl up in a ball and cry... I also wanted to drink myself into a stupor and forget you even existed. But my life changed that day you walked out my door, and it changed forever. Kya... she's my rock, she's my world. She's the reason I get up every morning. So don't you dare make threats like that to me. A mistake is calculating the wrong tip or buying the wrong shoes to match a new dress; believing your father that I was lying to you and coming back after five years to rob me of the best thing that could have ever happened to me because you just decided in the spur of the moment that you want a family is NOT a mistake!" She gave him one last glare and left the room, wiping away the tears that began to flow down her cheeks after finishing her speech.

She ran down the stairs and halted at the entry to the living room, giving her some time to make herself presentable. She walked in, head high and walked over to Kya making sure her back was turned to the living room entrance.

"Mummy, look at my card for Uncle Sokka." Katara sat cross legged next to Kya and took the card. It seemed as if Kya had attempted to draw Santa in glitter, but all she got were blobs in red, green and white with speckles of black here and there.

"Honey, this is gorgeous! Who else do we have to make a card for?"

"I already made Auntie Suki's. We have Uncle Aang, Auntie Toph, Yoshi, Kenzo, Sasuke, Ikem, Syao, Mai and Zuko." Katara stiffened at the mention of Zuko's name.

"We also have to write Santa's letter, bake cookies and get presents."

"Mummy, why do I have to continue writing a letter to Santa, I know it's you." Katara laughed as she thought back to her fourth Christmas with Kya.

_This was the first Christmas in the new house and she intended to make it really amazing. She decorated the tiny tree she had picked up from the market while keeping a constant watchful eye on Kya, who had unfortunately gotten the hang of running around the house ever since she learned how to walk. Her daughter was currently sitting on the play-mat with colourful building blocks in front of her; she had a quizzical expression on her face as she tried to divide the colours and the shapes. Katara had realised that her daughter's potential was great and she spent a huge chunk of her paycheck every month to buy toys that stimulated her brain. She had spent ample time with the small girl teaching her the basics – what surprised her was that Kya's brain was like a sponge and it soaked up knowledge she learned, not only from Katara, but from things around her. _

_Katara hummed a Christmas carol as she wrapped tinsel around the tree. Sokka was coming home with Suki in a month and Aang was finishing his thesis in the summer. Hopefully by then she could invite them to the new house which would, by then, become a home. A sudden noise made Katara look up – Kya had banged two building blocks trying to get up. She finally got herself upright and looked at her mother with a pained expression on her face. _

_"Mummy, I need to go potty." Kya grasped her mother's outstretched hand and dragged her to the toilet. "On my own." Kya pulled up her skirt and positioned her legs on either side of the potty while Katara supervised. Kya propped her head up in her hands and rested her elbows on her knees and just stared at the wall opposite her as she hummed the Christmas carol she had just heard her mother humming. When she was done, Katara helped her on the stool so she could reach the sink and helped her wash her hands. "Thank you!" Kya pecked Katara on the cheek before running out of the bathroom – stumbling every few seconds. Katara laughed at her daughter's exuberance as she emptied the potty and followed her daughter into the living room. When she walked into her bedroom and saw Kya peering into her cupboard she paled. She ran and snatched Kya up and closed the cupboard doors._

_"What are you doing? Mummy said not to look in her cupboard."Kya had a funny expression on her face._

_"Santa came." _

_"What?"_

_"Santa presents in mummy's clothes." Kya pointed to the cupboard. Katara sighed – she knew she should have hidden Kya's presents in a better palce._

_"Santa asked mummy to keep the presents here."Kya still looked puzzled but allowed her mother the benefit of the doubt._

_That night, as Katara was putting Kya to sleep, Kya started asking a lot of questions._

_"Mummy, how does Santa visit all the children in one night?" Katara thought about it for a while._

_"He uses his elves to help." _

_"So he has many many elves?"_

_"Mhm." Katara smiled at her daughter._

_"How does he buy the presents?" _

_"Erm... Santa makes the presents in his workshop. The elves help him!"_

_"But... how does he pay the elves. You work and the people at the pool give you money. So how does Santa give money to the elves, who work for him?" Katara was in shock – Kya was truly her daughter. Christmas was awakening her political side – she was questioning capitalism. _

_"Santa is very rich!"_

_"How?" Katara was starting to get annoyed – not at Kya, but at the holiday season. It begged too many questions and too many lies were told._

_"His family has a lot of money."_

_"Mummy lies. There is no Santa. Impossible! Man on TV says no Santa." Kya looked at her mother with a frown on her face._

_"Oh honey, listen, Santa could be real. Tomorrow I'll show you how."Kya nodded and pulled the blanket closer to her chin. _

_"Night mummy."_

_The next day Katara took Kya to an orphanage. _

_"What does Santa do?" Katara asked Kya outside the orphanage entrance._

_"He brings toys to good children and coal to bad children. But that's silly mummy... mummy is Santa. Mummy has the presents." Katara nodded._

_"Well honey, Mummy is lucky to have a job so that she can buy you presents every year on Christmas. Santa may not be real, in the sense that there is no one man that brings presents to all the children in the world, but mummies like me can bring presents to children who have no mummies or daddies."_

_"I don't have a daddy."_

_"Yes, but you have me, you have a mummy. I buy you presents every year on Christmas. This place here is an orphanage. Children, some are your age, some are younger, and some are older, have no mummies or daddies and they are all alone. Do you want to help me be Santa and bring them a nice present?" Kya nodded enthusiastically._

_"What are we bringing?" _

_"Some toys that you outgrew and some clothes. We also bought them some food." The food had taken a significant chunk out of Katara's savings, but it was worth it to show her daughter the population of children that weren't as lucky as her. Perhaps Kya wasn't rich, and didn't live with everything she wanted but she had everything she needed, unlike these children. Katara remembered her Christmases were spent helping her father in the homeless kitchens. She noticed Kya looking at the orphanage a bit hesitantly; her daughter was looking at squalor for the first time. Even their old house in the lower boroughs was not However, nothing could compare to this – the paint on the walls were chipped, the floor covered in rubble, the tiny unkempt garden was dark and foreboding. They entered the living room, and despite it being dim and untidy, with no real furniture, children were running after each other, laughing and playing with their imagination. Katara felt Kya's hand grip hers tighter as they walked toward the menacing looking woman who was in charge._

_"Hi." Katara smiled at them. Her daughter gave the woman a timid smile, but when she was met back with an icy glare, she hid behind her mother's thigh to shield herself from the hateful woman. Katara tried to ignore the bubbling anger inside of her. "We've come to bring some presents for the children." She handed over the bag of goodies to the woman._

_"Thank you." Katara snorted – this woman was anything but thankful. _

_"Can my daughter and I play a bit with the children?"The woman shrugged._

_"Do whatever you want." Katara held back on giving the woman the second bag, which contained the food, and took Kya by the hand. _

_"Kya honey, let's get to know the kids." Kya was too traumatised by her encounter with the austere woman to say anything. They both walked over to the playing group of children. "Hi." Katara smiled at the young group. They all stopped playing and looked up at her._

_"Hello." Their faces were smudged a little with dirt and their faces looked a little pale, Katara would bet anything that their pallor was due to under-nourishment. "Can we play with you?" The children looked confused, they only saw Katara so why was she saying 'we'? Kya peeked out from behind her mother's thigh – the group of children stared at her until one girl was brave enough to walk to Kya._

_"Hello, my name's Meera, what's yours?" Kya continued to clutch her mother's thigh as she replied in a timid voice._

_"My name's Kya." Meera smiled at the scared girl. _

_"Do you want to pla red light? I'll introduce to everyone." Katara gave her daughter a little push toward the group. _

_"Go on honey." Meera took Kya's hand and introduced her to the rest of the group. Katara looked back to see that the woman she had spoken with had gone into another room. Satisfied that she wasn't going to be coming back any time soon, she found a clean-ish area on the floor and took out a blanket from her bag. _

_While the children played, she set up the food she had made and bought. Happy with the result she looked up to see Kya playing and laughing with the other children – Kya was always able to acclimatise in new places really fast, it made living in the lower boroughs a little easier. Since moving to the middle borough, Kya soon became familiar with her surroundings and even made friends out of the local butcher, the fresh produce guy who had a market two streets over, their immediate neighbours (both elderly couples who loved to shower Kya with gifts whenever they could) and the local autoshop owner who was so enamoured with Kya's personality that he always asked Kya to help him carry out the service repairs on her mother's car. Katara called the children over and invited them to eat – as the other children tucked in, she noticed Kya had only taken one sandwich and drank nothing while the other children were busy grabbing anything they could find and stuff their faces. Katara watched the children eat; they were talking about a new game they had invented and were explaining to Kya the rules. Kya was listening intently as the children around her babbled. _

_On the way home, Katara noticed Kya was abnormally silent. She looked in the rear-view mirror to see her daughter staring out the window._

_"Kya honey, what's wrong?"_

_"Mummy, can we come back again?" Katara smiled._

_"Of course honey!" _

_They had gone back again after Christmas but the atmosphere had changed. The austere woman was even more annoying and didn't let them stay for more than 5 minutes. In that time Kya realised that orphanages were horrible places where children were always sad; she also realised that children in orphanages sometimes left and soon, all her friends were gone. She sometimes went with her Aunt Toph, who had made the orphanage a much better place, but it was never the same. The children she had once called friends were either living with foster parents or were adopted and Kya would never see them again. '_

The slamming of the door brought Katara back to the present. Kya looked at her mother confusedly.

"I left a window open in my room and the wind must have slammed my door." She said and placed her brother's card on Kya's arts and crafts table.

"Mummy, should I draw a Christmas tree or a flower for Uncle Aang?"

"Whatever you want. But you should draw it tomorrow because now it's bath time." Kya groaned but she still followed her mother to the bathroom.

It took a while to get Kya de-glitterised but once the long and arduous task was over, both girls sighed with relief. Kya fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Katara closed the door as quietly as she could and went to her room. She felt her skin prickle as she remembered what had happened between her and Zuko in the very spot she was standing in now. She touched her lips and smiled – Zuko always knew her weak spots. As she climbed into bed with her book, she stared at the bookcase opposite her and blushed as the memories of the kiss with Zuko came flooding back.

She couldn't fight it any more. She was in love with Zuko, not Jet and it wasn't fair to the latter if she continued a relationship her heart wasn't wholly in. Tomorrow, she would find a way to break up with Jet, she had to.


End file.
